Dragons Don't Exist Do They?
by x-Moonbay-x
Summary: For centuries Dragons and Ghost have fought each other over Planet Earth! But what happens when Danny accidently gets involved? Rating raised to T to be safe! -Stalled indefinitely, pending total rewrite-
1. Chap1 Hi, I'm a Dragon Get over it!

Welcome to my first Fanfic. Well, it ain't actually my first but it's the first one I've felt confident enough to actually post!

At the end of each chapter I'll be putting 'Moonbay's end of chapter notes' which is just a short chapter of notes about the characters I've added to this story. If you don't want to read them, that's fine by me. It'll just be there to help explain why some characters are as they are, such as the story behind their names or appearances.

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**Full Summary **

For centuries a war has been continuously waged between Ghosts and Dragons but, thanks to the whole 'Dragons are a Myth' thing it's remained secret… until now. When Danny Fenton and his friends, Sam and Tucker investigate what appears to be yet another Ghost attack but, instead, come face to face with a real live Dragon, the truth begins to reveal itself. Worse still, a single Dragon has set Danny as his target and seems intent on waging his own war on the Ghost-boy. It's up to Danny, Sam and Tucker to put a stop to this increasingly dangerous all out street-brawl - and shake off the unwanted attention - before someone gets seriously hurt.

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**Legally disclaimer stuff**

I don't own Danny Phantom or any of the Danny Phantom characters, much as I, like many others, would like to (Well it would eliminate the need for this disclaimer for one thing!) However the new characters e.g. Perona and the dragons, do belong to me, so, no usage without permission 'kay?

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 1**

**Hi, I'm A Dragon… Get Over It!**

It was early evening. Fourteen year old Danny Fenton was making his way home from the Movie Theatre with his two best friends - Tucker Foley, a smart boy with an affinity for technological gear, and Samantha (Sam) Manson, your typical Goth girl.

It was a warm evening, but Danny suddenly felt that unmistakeable shiver that he had become so accustomed to since the accident with his ghost-hunting parents' experiment in their laboratory. To begin with the experiment had failed, but Danny just couldn't resist taking a peek himself. The result had been a fully working 'Ghost portal' which provided access from the human world to the ghost world - more commonly known as the Ghost Zone.

However Danny was still in the machine when the portal activated and his DNA sequence was rewritten by spectral energy. Since then he'd been able to switch between his normal human form and his new ghost one, though not always voluntarily!

This cold shiver was also a ghost power, and it alerted him to the fact that a ghost (or ghosts) was near.

"Can't we have ONE night when there are NO ghosts causing trouble!" Danny exclaimed irately, as a far off flash seemed to indicate the potential threat was in the park.

"Be careful" Sam advised "whatever's going on over there looks a little more dangerous than usual" As if on cue, there was another flash, followed by the sound of breaking benches.

"We'll just hide behind a tree 'til you need us" Tucker joked cheerfully, holding out the 'Fenton Thermos' - an actual thermos redesigned by Danny's parents to capture and trap ghosts

"I thought we banned you from carrying that!" Danny stated, remembering the time Tucker had carelessly dropped the Fenton Thermos, releasing the ghosts Danny had spent all night capturing.

"Don't worry Danny… I'LL hold the Thermos!" Sam reassured, taking it from a sheepish looking Tucker.

"Right! I'm going ghost!" Danny yelled, using his, now trademark, catchphrase. His transformation from human to ghost took barely a second, his normal black hair and blue eyes changing to bright white and ghost green respectively. Oddly enough, his clothes also changed to a black jumpsuit - what he happened to be wearing at the time of the accident. Without hesitation Danny flew ahead to the park.

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What awaited him when he got there was not what he expected to see. Just as he reached the park he caught sight of two unknown ghosts fleeing the scene. The ghost-boy - known to many in the Ghost Zone as simply 'the Halfa' - hovered there for a couple of seconds not knowing quite what to make of this, when Sam's voice cut through his train of thought.

"DANNY, BEHIND YOU!"

Danny swung round to meet his attacker head on but was stopped in his tracks by the sight of a large green dragon flying right towards him. It was gliding down towards him, which explained why he hadn't heard it coming, since it hadn't needed to flap its wings. The dragon took full advantage of Danny's hesitance and smacked him out of the sky with one of its large scaly hands, sending the Halfa crashing back down to Earth.

"You're going back to the Ghost Zone!" Danny yelled, sending two ecto-blasts in the dragon's direction. The dragon was hit hard by this attack and held back, sizing up its opponent. Apparently it had underestimated this ghost's strength. "NOW SAM!"

Sam pulled the lid off the Fenton Thermos and pointed it toward the dragon. A bright bluish white beam shot out of the end. This beam is what catches the ghost and drags it into the thermos, but, when it hit the dragon, nothing happened. It just continued to hover there looking somewhat amused, then turned its attention back to Danny.

"You mean that's a REAL dragon!" Tucker exclaimed

"Don't be silly Tucker, everyone knows real dragons don't exist" Sam scoffed, replacing the thermos's cap.

"Tell that to Danny!" Tucker retorted as Danny was once again locked in battle with the green dragon. It seemed that the dragon had underestimated Danny again however, as it got smacked down to the ground from more of Danny's bright green blasts.

As it pulled itself back up to take the Halfa on again, it flicked its ears as though listening to something. The dragon then roared with frustration and bolted off into the trees, leaving the three very confused.

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The dragon hung its head in a very ashamed manner as it approached the boy standing in front of it. The boy had bluish/white hair, pale blue eyes and wore a black shirt and dark brown trousers with a black and red dragon emblem emblazed on his belt buckle. It was also obvious that this was no normal human boy. A bluish/white tail hung down behind him which ended in a distinctive diamond shape. It swished constantly, making his agitation obvious to the green dragon.

"What did you think you were doing, Shiar?" He asked the dragon irately, his voice giving away a slight, English accent.

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I got… carried away!" Shiar replied, transforming back to his own human-like form, except his hair, which was tied back in a pony tail, was green - a little lighter than the colour of his dragon form and his eyes were a striking tan colour, easily giving away his ancestry to anyone who saw him. He also possessed a tail, also green in colour, with a spade shaped end and wore a light brown hoody and slightly darker brown trousers.

"You shouldn't even have tried to fight him in the first place!" Shadow stated bluntly "I told you quite plainly "leave the Halfa to me!" but you just don't listen do you!"

"It won't happen again" Shiar said through gritted teeth. It was quite plain to see that these two dragons didn't get on. But Shadow was Shiar's 'Elder Dragon' despite being physically a couple of years younger, and he was distinctly more powerful. Shiar had no choice but to obey.

"You bet it won't happen again!" Shadow remarked "That had to be the most amusingly pathetic display of dragon/ghost conflict I've ever seen! I had the time of my life just watching you getting pummelled! I doubt you'd _want_ to put yourself though that embarrassment again!" he chuckled. Shiar felt humiliated by this remark and kept back the tears by concentrating on his anger towards Shadow. "On a more serious note…" Shadow continued "you also made yourself known to humans! Now get out of here while I try to deal with this problem!" With that Shiar bolted off before Shadow changed his mind and walloped him.

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Shadow watched the boy run off to God-knows-where, with a slight hint of regret. He'd have been lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed humiliating Shiar, but he did wish it wasn't necessary. Shiar was strong willed and often got 'carried away' so showing him up was the only way to keep him from doing stupid things… theoretically anyway.

But going back to the topic at hand, Shadow watched the Halfa and the humans for a little bit more. This ghost-boy was a very interesting creature. Half human, half ghost… he had beaten Shiar in battle and Shiar was no weak dragon-chick. At least Shadow knew now that the Halfa would make a much more fun opponent than the usual pack of ghosts that floated around. As the dragon watched, the Halfa transformed back into his human form and left the park with his friends, and he continued to watch them until they rounded the corner, out of sight.

"I'm quite looking forward to fighting you, Halfa!" Shadow stated, to no-one but himself.

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Danny, Sam and Tucker's theories on what they had encountered in the park had remained inconclusive, and they had decided to call it quits, go home and see if anything else came up that could explain more.

Just as Danny walked through the front door a small explosion indicated his parents were busy… probably with another ghost hunting device, and Danny prayed they wouldn't try it out with him in the room. Maddie and Jack Fenton didn't know about their son's ghost powers, and, with their current attitude towards the spectral beings, he preferred it to stay that way!

His older sister, Jazz, was sitting on the sofa, reading a magazine, only looking up briefly to roll her eyes as yet another explosion could be heard. Danny sat down on the other end of the sofa and glanced over at her.

"Jazz?" he questioned "what do you know about dragons?" Jazz looked sceptically at him over the top of her magazine. _That was a stupid question! _He suddenly thought to himself, but it was too late now.

"Danny, I realise that, living in this house, you may very well end up trying to hunt ghosts one day…" _It's a little late for that. _Danny thought "but dragons are just a myth. You do realise that don't you? I mean it's bad enough when I tell people my parents hunt ghosts! Think of the public humiliation I'd get from telling people I also have a brother who hunts DRAGONS!"

"I'm NOT hunting dragons!" Danny retorted "I'm… doing an English assignment on Myths and Legends!" _Not bad Daniel Fenton… now let's just hope she believes it! And why does she have to keep looking at me like that!_

"Try the Internet!" Jazz suggested after a short time, then turned her attention back to her magazine. Danny breathed a sigh of relief then hurried up to his room.

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"You told Jazz about the dragon!" Sam almost yelled in alarm. It was the morning after the incident, and Danny was explaining what had transpired between him and Jazz whilst they were walking to their lockers at Casper High - the school they currently attended.

"I didn't tell Jazz about the dragon!" Danny retorted "I simply asked her what she knew about them, y'know, what stories she might have been told about them when she was younger!"

"And?" Tucker asked expectantly.

"She convinced herself I was trying to start up a dragon hunting service!" Danny replied sheepishly "then she suggested I try the Internet!"

"Well, while she suggested it, I actually did!" Sam stated "There's tons of stuff on them there! Unfortunately, since most people believe dragons don't really exist, I can't guarantee what's real and what's not!"

"Maybe that dragon wasn't real!" Tucker piped up "remember that ghost pendant Danny gave to Paulina that time, and it turned her into a ghost dragon?"

"Thanks for reminding me, Tuck!" Danny remarked "but we've already worked out that this dragon wasn't a ghost! If it was, the Fenton Thermos would've trapped it."

"The only thing we can do right now, is wait and see if it shows up again. Danny definitely had the upper hand last time" Sam pointed out "if the dragon hadn't have run off, we might have had a chance of finding out more about it. We should hang around the park again tonight, just in case"

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Shadow was starting to get a little concerned. For the first time in centuries the dragon/ghost conflict was beginning to spill into the human's world. Three humans had already been injured by falling debris from a building, caused by a Ghost knocking Echo - a young dark blue-scaled dragon into it. But, since it was night, as when all these battles took place, no-one had noticed the ghost and the small blue dragon slink off in different directions, their fight forgotten for the moment. Shadow could forgive Echo, she was ideally suited to fighting in stealth, and had scarpered off immediately after, but Shiar had challenged ghosts right in the middle of a common human gathering area _and_ had been spotted by two humans. For now that wasn't such a bad thing as probably no-one would believe them if they tried to tell people about it, but too many people start popping up with sightings of their own and the dragon's secret would be out. So Shadow had begun patrolling to avoid any major upsets.

It was currently dusk. Night was when the dragons could see best and since that's also when most ghosts struck, it was a fair arrangement. Shadow walked downtown, his tail hidden under the cloak he was wearing so as not to alarm the humans still wandering around and silently willed the sun to set faster. It was still too bright for him to see clearly and he needed to keep watch. Also the later it was, the less likely it was for humans to be around.

A few hours later, the dragon felt it safe to complete his watch from the rooftops. No-one would see him up there in the dark. So far the only battle he had witnessed was Echo and Novena - a female albino dragon - competing in a fairly interesting tag-team fight against a couple of ghosts. This may have been a war, but that didn't mean the battlers couldn't spice up their fights!

Just when he thought nothing else might show up, Shadow was almost knocked off the roof by the down draft from the wing of a large dark brown dragon as it shot passed him, chasing a ghost down the street. Several humans looked up in confusion at the sudden wind, but they weren't fast enough to see anything… this time anyway!

Shadow hopped along the rooftops, following the direction the brown dragon had gone. He didn't recognise this dragon so he assumed it must have been from the other dragon community adjacent to his own, but that was no excuse for this careless behaviour.

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Danny shivered. A ghost may not have been what he was looking for but he couldn't let a loose one wander around. Signalling to Sam and Tucker he switched to his ghost form and headed out to where he sensed it to be. Sure enough, within a few minutes the spirit in question zoomed past. He screeched to a halt and flew back to face Danny.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST… BEWARE!" he yelled, then shot off in the direction he'd been heading in.

"Doesn't he ever_ stay_ in the Ghost Zone?" Danny mused, watching the hapless phantom disappearing over the horizon "oh well, better get after him" Just as he prepared to give chase, a low growl made him stop. Turning around, the Ghost-boy found himself looking into the eyes of a large, brown dragon. It gave him a long hard stare.

"You must be the Halfa!" he - at least its voice sounded male - stated

"You guys can talk!" Danny exclaimed. The dragon seemed a little taken aback by this exclamation.

"You didn't know?" he asked "I thought all ghosts knew dragons could talk…" his sentence was cut short by a shockwave to the face. Both Danny and the dragon followed the attack to its source and found the attacker to be a bluish/white-haired boy, who looked to be about fourteen - the same age as Danny - standing on the back of one the last surviving benches.

"There was always a chance he wouldn't know, idiot" he growled "he's the Halfa! If he lives with humans he won't know anything about the war, and, unless I'm very much mistaken, you're very far into my territory"

"Ah, so you're the lead dragon in this area!" the brown dragon stated "Shadow wasn't it?" Another shockwave hit his chest knocking him backwards.

"Get lost!" the boy threatened

With that the dragon took the hint and flew off, leaving Danny alone with the strange boy named Shadow.

"You know me?" Danny asked

"I know of you, all dragons do" Shadow replied "the Halfa - a human/ghost hybrid. None of us know how it's possible for such a hybrid to exist, but that doesn't exclude you."

"Exclude me? What from?"

"The century old war between ghosts and dragons"

"Wait, ghosts are already dead… how can this be a war!"

"You'd be surprised what a dragon can do. And if all else fails, we send them back to the Ghost Zone!"

"But if that's true…" Danny started, somewhat confused "then why did you just save me from that other dragon?"

"He's from two towns over" Shadow replied "shouldn't have been in this area in the first place. And you…" he added, with a sadistic kind of smirk "are _my_ opponent!"

"What have you got against me?" Danny yelled, narrowly missing several electrical spheres launched by Shadow.

"I just explained that to you!" Shadow replied "You're a ghost, I'm a dragon. Do the Math!"

"I've never been one for Math!" Danny replied, cockily "But you said it yourself, I'm a Halfa! So I'm half human too!"

"I don't care if you're half insect! The fact that you have ghost in you qualifies you, so, sorry… you ain't getting out of it that easily!" Shadow removed his cloak and revealed a pair of black leathery wings. Danny marvelled at how Shadow managed to open those wings without ripping his shirt, but then, until yesterday, he hadn't even known dragons actually existed! There was no telling what they could do. Danny managed to successfully dodge three more spheres and attempted to evade the fourth one by becoming intangible. However instead of going through him as it should have done, it hit him square in the chest, knocking him out of the sky. Shadow landed about a metre away from the Ghost-boy.

"I did warn you" he said, tauntingly "I doubt you're going to want to try that trick again! It won't help you in this fight"

Danny's reply came in the form of a two-handed ecto blast. Shadow was caught off guard by this retaliation and, although he managed to guard himself in time to avoid any serious damage, he was still sent reeling backwards, the damage to the arm he had guarded with acting as a painful reminder not to be so overconfident in future.

"And I doubt you'll want to try _that_ again…" Danny stated sarcastically "because _that_ won't help _you_ either!" Shadow growled, revealing a set of teeth that reminded Danny somewhat of a vampires, except a little shorter. The dragon then took off into the air again, with Danny in hot pursuit. The two of them continued to exchange attacks - mostly missing due to the speed and agility both possessed, but eventually Shadow was starting to get the edge on Danny. The Halfa launched a last-ditch attempt attack on the dragon which, invariably, missed and Danny realised with horror that his stray attack was heading straight towards Sam who, unluckily, had chosen this very moment to finally locate where Danny was. Shadow heard Danny's shocked cry of "SAM!" and followed his gaze. Then he darted towards Sam and placed himself between her and the oncoming attack just in time. The green blast hit the dragon square in the back, slamming him into the ground. Despite being immensely relieved that Sam hadn't been hurt by his rogue attack, Danny was still curious to know why Shadow had saved her.

He flew down towards them and was just about to ask, when the dragon pushed himself back up off the ground. Shadow glared at the ghost-boy with a look that warned him to keep his mouth shut, before taking off and fleeing the scene.

"Danny? Aren't you going to go after him?" Sam asked, as he landed next to her.

"No" Danny replied "I'm going to let him go for now… I have a hunch he'll be back! Where's Tucker?

"He was right behind me, but he dropped his PDA" Sam stated dryly "he just had to check it was okay before he took another step"

"Sounds like Tuck! Come on, let's go find him. I have some more info to add to our 'dragon hunting' file"

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 1:**

**- Shadow's Uniform: Shadow was originally created for a Zoids Fanfic, which at present time has a middle but no beginning or ending! And as such the Dragon emblem on his belt is in fact the Zoids Neo Zenebas Logo! **

**- Dragons can talk: Originally when I first started writing this story, the dragons in their dragon forms used thought-speak ala Animorphs. However when I attempted a manga-style comic I found it was much more fun trying to draw the dragons facial expressions whilst they were talking so I decided, what the hell and I dropped the idea in my fics too!**

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Well, that's it for Chapter 1! Chapter 2 should be up within the next week or so!

If you have some spare time please review!


	2. Chap2 Kelshekta

I would like to apologise, at this point, if anything is inaccurate. Since Danny Phantom appears to be set in the US and I live in the UK I'm not entirely sure if I've got things right!

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 2**

'**Kelshekta'**

Just outside of town lay a somewhat derelict little building. It was only small, but it was abandoned and that made it perfect for Amity Park's little band of resident dragons to stay. There was no heating and the water had long since been shut off, but since dragons possessed flamethrowers and had no aversion whatsoever to drinking water from a stream or pond, it made no difference to them.

Shadow sat on the long disused sofa, throwing a small rubber ball repeatedly at the wall opposite with his good arm. He wouldn't have worried about his wounded one, but Echo had persuaded him to let her bandage it up. It was hard to believe Echo was really Shiar's sister, they had such different personalities. Now, however, he was just bored.

"Have fun with the Halfa?" Shiar asked, walking into the room. Shadow caught the ball as it bounced back to him and gave the green-haired dragon an irritated look. "Heard it didn't work out too well!" Shiar added

"Not that it's any of your business but our fight got interrupted" Shadow growled "that human girl who was with him yesterday turned up and was almost hit by an attack aimed at me! I managed to take the hit just in time, but it was close"

"Why bother to save her at all? You just should've let her get killed… problem solved!" Shiar pointed out

"Because, if a suspiciously dead girl turns up, people are going to ask questions… especially since the attack that would've killed her was a ghost one!" Shadow replied "it's bad enough having to work around ghost hunters as it is without having them launch a full scale attack to destroy every ghost in the vicinity!"

"Okay, but I still want to know why you're so insistent on fighting the Halfa as oppose to any ghost that you quite easily track down around here!" Shiar stated "or does it have something to do with the fact that you're…" SMACK! Shiar's sentence was cut short as a rubber ball hit him in the face. He staggered back a couple of steps, rubbing his forehead where the ball had connected "Gees, kinda sensitive about the subject huh?" Shadow walked over to where the ball had landed and picked it up.

"Shiar, if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut about that!" he threatened before leaving the room.

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Danny made it home just in time for curfew meaning that, with everything else that had been going on, at least he didn't have to go through another hour long lecture on the importance of the curfew from his Dad. He was currently lying on his bed contemplating what he'd found out from Shadow. No ghost had ever mentioned a war with dragons before. But then, they were probably always too busy fighting him or trying to escape to offer any information.

Then another question arose - if this war had been going on for centuries, and the dragons were only now being spotted, did this mean they were getting careless?

Danny sat up and walked over to the window, subconsciously watching out for any sign of dragon activity. He had a bad feeling things were going to get a hell of a lot worse sometime soon.

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The next morning was Friday. While he looked forward to Fridays as they signalled the end of the week, it always seemed to Danny that they lasted an extra hour longer than any other day of the week.

He was just putting his stuff away in his locker, when Jazz caught up with him, accompanied by an unfamiliar red-haired girl wearing a lilac jumper and grey skirt.

"Danny, can I ask a favour?" she asked her brother "This is… Perona, wasn't it?" she added looking at the girl

"You can just call me Roe. It's what everyone else calls me" the girl replied.

"Okay. Roe's new here and she's having a little trouble working out where she's supposed to be. Fortunately she seems to be in most of your classes so, could you help her out until she gets settled?" Jazz asked hopefully

"Sure" Danny agreed

"Great!" Jazz turned to Perona "Right, I've got to get going. I'll catch up with you later to see how you're getting on. And don't listen to too much of what Danny and his friends say, if you wish to retain some form of sanity!" Danny glared at his sister as Perona giggled. Jazz just smiled with amusement and walked off down the corridor.

Danny turned to Perona. She was a little shorter than he was and her hair, which was pinned up, was streaked with blue highlights.

"So, have you found your locker yet?" Danny asked

"No, not yet. Here, it's written on my timetable" Perona replied, showing him a piece of paper.

"That's right over here" Danny directed the girl over to her locker.

"Thanks. This is all a lot to get used to. I moved here from England to stay with my Aunt. American schools are something very different"

"I was gonna ask if you came from England. Your accent gave you away!"

"That's another thing I have to get used to - I never noticed I had an accent until I moved up here!"

"Hey Danny" Sam greeted walking up to them, with Tucker in tow. "who's this?"

Perona introduced herself and repeated everything she'd told Danny.

"If you don't mind me asking" Sam started "Why'd you decide to come here?"

"Partly because of boredom, and partly because my Aunt told me she'd seen an old friend of mine in the area. It's been a long while since I've seen him."

"So, Roe. Are you doing anything Saturday night?" Tucker asked, hopefully.

"Tucker! You've only just met her!" Danny stated.

"Oh, I'm flattered, really I am, but I'm already accounted for!" Perona replied, blushing a little "sorry!"

"Oh well, it was worth a try!" Tucker said, cheerfully. At that point the bell rang.

"Well, Roe, get ready for your first lesson in at Casper High!" Sam stated "If you can survive the day, nothing can faze you!"

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Finally, lunch time came round. Perona had separated from the group to use the girls' room leaving Danny, Tucker and Sam to go on ahead to the Canteen. Now it was just the three of them, Sam brought up the subject of dragons again.

"I did another search on the net again, this time on the subject of dragon/ghost conflict. I found several fiction stories, but the only site that mentioned a war required a password to access!" she explained.

"RPG Forum?" Danny theorised

"Possibly…" Sam replied "but equally, it could be a site set up by the dragons themselves."

"Or ghosts!" Tucker added

"I dunno, it doesn't really seem their style" Danny stated "and you have to remember that the dragons can disguise themselves as humans, so they're more likely to get access to a computer"

"Let me take a crack at this website," Tucker said "maybe I can hack the password!"

"What password?" Perona asked, making all three jump. They hadn't noticed her catch up with them.

"Oh, nothing!" Sam stated hurriedly "I… we just… I forgot my password for a chat site I'm a member of, and Tucker was going to hack into it for me, weren't you?" she added nudging Tucker slightly with her elbow.

"What? Oh, right, yeah! That's what I'm gonna do!" Tucker said, suddenly taking the hint. Danny rolled his eyes at Sam and Tucker's cover up efforts.

"I see…" said Perona, obviously not really seeing it at all, but she said no more about it, to the trio's relief, and they went to get lunch.

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The rest of the day passed without a hitch, and when the final lesson was over and the bell had rung, an excited gaggle of students prepared to meet the weekend. None more so than Dash, the Casper High bully, who'd decided to blame Danny for his mass amount of homework… again!

Perona found him seeking refuge in a dustbin, of all places.

"Is the 'Danny hunting season' a regular occurrence?" she asked, grinning.

"If you ask me, it's too regular" Danny retorted, climbing out of the dustbin "I mean, I didn't give him all that homework!"

"That's one of the perks of being a bully… They can't take it out on the teachers so they take it out on all those smaller than they are." Perona explained "All people like us can do is stick it out or try to outrun them and hope they slip on a banana peel!"

"Or crush their hand in the locker when they try to shove us in it!" Danny added with a smirk.

"That's the spirit!" Perona replied.

"Did Sam and Tucker go home?"

"Yeah. They apologised for rushing off, but apparently the Chat Room Hacking just couldn't wait… They said you'd understand." Perona said. Danny nodded.

"Well, we can't stand around here all evening" he said "Got lots of homework to do!"

"Oh, hey I'll walk with you!" Perona suggested "My Aunt's house is in the same direction as yours anyway"

"How do you know that?" Danny asked

"Well, isn't your house that oddly shaped one with the word FENTON on it?"

"Gees, what gave it away?" Danny blushed. That was the problem with his house, _everyone_ knew where he lived!

"By the way Roe, you never told us who that friend you were looking for was!" Danny asked as they walked home. "You never know, he could be a student at school! I might even know who he is!"

"I don't think so, last time I checked he didn't go to school" Perona stated "but don't worry, I'll find him!"

"I see. Well, if you ever need any help, just ask!"

"Thanks"

"So how did you enjoy your first day?" Danny asked

"There's a lot to learn. I seem to be ahead in some subjects and behind in others" Perona replied

"I noticed. Don't worry though, you'll soon catch up." Danny said "Well, this is my house"

"Thanks for helping me out today. I'm never good at starting new schools so it's great to know I've got some friends already" Perona said

"No problem. I'll see you on Monday?" Danny asked

"Yep. Oh, Danny?" Perona called. Danny turned back "Kelshekta!"

"Huh?"

"You'll find out!" with that Perona walked off.

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"You're later home than usual" Maddie stated, looking up from the strange metallic box she was working on, as he shut the front door behind him.

"There was a new girl at school. We got caught up in a conversation." Danny explained

"A _new_ girl? Careful Danny, she may be a ghost!" Jack yelled, excitedly, brandishing a particularly lethal looking ghost hunting device and forcing Danny to take a couple of steps backwards to avoid being knocked over.

"No Dad!" Jazz stepped in "you are _not_ going to put that poor girl though the trauma of your ghost weapons. At least let Danny have _one_ friend who doesn't think his family's insane. Jack looked quite disappointed but went back to poking at the gadget in his hand with a screwdriver, grumbling about the fact that there was no room on it to write the word 'Fenton'.

Thinking he should probably warn Perona about his Dad the next time he saw her,

Danny went up to his room to dump his bag. With all that homework to look forward to he had to battle an overwhelming urge to dump it in the middle of the Ghost Zone! Wasting little time, Danny logged on to the internet. As expected, he'd got an e-mail from Sam with the address of the locked website. Opening the link he took a look for himself about what this website was all about.

The main page contained the bare minimum: no logos, no pictures, nothing colourful at all! Just a short amount of black writing on a white background:

_A GUIDE FOR YOUNG DRAGONS: THE GLOBAL GHOST WAR!_

Written underneath this was the words 'Enter Here!' Clicking this revealed nothing more than another white backed page with a small text box. It all seemed a little too basic to simply be an RPG Forum. Those things normally had big flashy logos and animations all over the place, and there didn't even seem to be anywhere to register. It appeared that, in order to become a member of this site, you had to know the right people. Danny was just about to log off when a thought occurred to him. It was a long shot idea, after all, Perona didn't know what they were trying to do, at least, he didn't think she did. But she'd been so mysterious about the word she'd given him, that it seemed worth a try.

Hoping he'd got the spelling right, he typed in 'Kelshekta' and pressed Enter. Within a few seconds the dull page was replaced by a brightly coloured page with tonnes of writing, mostly in English, but a few of the logos contained words in a strange language, some of which didn't even seem pronounceable by any human standards!

Clicking on a link for newbies Danny found a short description of the Origin of the War:

_Now you have been deemed old enough to partake in the War, it is time to learn what it is all about._

_First off, the War has been going on for many centuries and started when ghosts started to invade dragon habitats, such as abandoned buildings. It soon became a battle for living space. Eventually all dragons were fighting all ghosts they met up with regardless of whether or not an abandoned building was the prize. _

_It was only when a portal to another dimension was discovered that the ghosts finally decided to flee this world. However they still attempt to creep back, so as long as dragons remain on this world, it is our job to keep them where they are or else destroy them completely! The winners of this War gain to right to planet Earth!_

So that was the reason for this full scale battle!

Checking around the website, gathering as much information as he could, Danny came across a message board. There were a lot of messages on it, but it was mostly chat, or in a different language, like the logos.

One thing that did catch Danny's eye though was a thread, entitled 'Hey, Shadow!' started by someone named Rit:

_**Author: Rit Deran- Great Britain**_

_I heard a rumour going around, Verdion! Someone told me you were a Liagren! Is that true?_

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_**Author: Shadow Verdion - USA**_

_What you heard is neither here nor there! You know this subject is banned by the Administrators!_

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_**Author: Rit Deran - Great Britain**_

_Admit it, you are, aren't you. That's why you're avoiding my question!_

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_**Author: Website Administrator **_

_Claiming someone to be a Liagren is a serious accusation, especially as it originates from rumours. And you were notified about discussing forbidden subjects in the forum. Be sure that this **will **be looked into, however mentioning this again will result in the Authors access to the site being suspended! This Thread will be locked!_

This was interesting. Whatever a Liagren was, it didn't seem that being one was something you wanted people to know about. If Shadow was being investigated for something illegal, it was little wonder he wanted someone to take it out on… just like Dash and the homework!

Danny had a good long look on other subjects on the Forum… the ones he could read anyway. Shadow's name showed up on a lot of other posts too, mainly posting links to or replying to links others had posted to humorous websites and games. It seemed strange to the Halfa to think of the dangerous dragon-boy he'd fought almost twenty four hours earlier as having such a carefree sense of humour. It seemed like it was written by a whole different person! Yet, Shadow seemed to be an uncommon name among the authors, and the fact that his profile described him being from the Amity Park sect. seemed to indicate that it was by the same dragon!

Still trying to take in everything he'd found out, he e-mailed Sam and Tucker:

_I'm not sure how well the hacking's going but I seem to have cracked it already. I won't say too much now, but just type in 'Kelshekta' as the password and have a look around. I'll see you tomorrow._

_Danny._

Now all he had to do was sit back and imagine the looks on his friends' faces when they tried it.

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 2:**

**- New Girl Perona:** Roe's one of my favourite characters despite starting off life as an extra! She's actually a direct descendant of Domino - one of the first characters I ever created, and Thunderchild - a character created by Electricfox. She's also a descendant of Raven and Rhys from Zoids Chaotic Century/Guardian Force, but to explain Perona's family tree would take forever!

**- "Kelshekta!":** I'd like to thank Electricfox for thinking this word up for me! I have a lousy word creating ability!

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WOW! I finished Chapter 2! Chapter 3's currently underway, unfortunately due to restrictions on time I can't guarantee when it'll be up! Sorry!


	3. Chap3 Anyone Got Any Dragon Repellent?

WOW! I got a review dances up and down like a mad idiot

Thanks Riverfox237! I'm glad you like my story! It started off as one sugar high induced project then was stuck for a long while on chapter 2 when the sugar wore off! However, I've found several bottles of Pepsi in the fridge, and hopefully they'll last until the story's finished. As for Perona… I could tell you what her deal is… but that would just ruin the story. I WILL tell you however, that you should start to find out more about her at the end of chapter 4/beginning of chapter 5. So without further ado (and cuz you asked so nicely) here's chapter 3!

**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 3**

**Anyone Got Any Dragon Repellent?**

Friday night was unbelievably quiet on the dragon front. _Well,_ Danny thought to himself _until recently we'd never even SEEN a dragon before._ He was a little worried about the whole situation though. The green dragon had been a piece of cake, but Shadow had been much more powerful. Just how much stronger were some of the others out there?

A few ghosts had been causing some mischief, but Danny had dealt with them easily. In fact nothing really happened until round about midday Saturday…

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Sam and Tucker had both shown up on Danny's doorstep the next morning, desperate to find out just how he'd managed to crack the password so quickly and easily.

Not wanting Jazz or his parents to overhear, Danny, Sam and Tucker headed over to the park.

"So… How'd you do it?" Tucker asked, when they'd picked a spot on the grass to sit down. "I didn't even get a chance to try hacking it!"

"It's kind of weird!" Danny started "Perona told me the password! Don't ask me how she knew it though because she didn't explain!"

"It's not that I'm not grateful for her help, but why did you tell her about it? I thought we were supposed to be keeping it a secret!" Sam asked

"That's just it! I didn't tell her!" Danny protested "she just told me the word! It was only later when I logged onto the internet that I got the idea to use it on the website!"

"Do you think she heard more of our conversation than we think she did?" Tucker asked "after all, we don't really know how long she was standing there before she interrupted us!"

"And the other problem we have is: how did she know it anyway?" Sam added "I think we're going to have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she may be a dragon!"

"But why would a dragon willingly reveal a password to its own secret society?" Danny asked "I dunno, maybe I should pay her a visit in ghost form. If she reacts how Shadow and that other green dragon did THEN we'll start talking about whether she's a dragon or not!" This idea was mutually approved by all, the only problem being that none of them knew exactly where Perona lived.

However, this problem became less significant when compared to what happened next:

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A loud roar emanated from a clump of trees near where the three were sitting and two trees in the clump snapped in two as a fiery red dragon slammed into them, finally coming to a stop a few yards away. It was closely followed by a large brown dragon, growling menacingly at the fallen red dragon as it stepped over the splintered trees.

Danny realised suddenly that he recognised the brown dragon, it was the same one he'd run into the other night! However he didn't know the other one. It was a little smaller than the brown one and had a pair of blue horns. The feature that really made this red dragon stand out though, was a large flame on the end of its tail. Danny didn't know if this was natural for dragons but it sure made an impression!

Many people screamed, causing the brown dragon to look up. With the ensuing chaos creating a distraction, the red dragon seized the moment and walloped the brown dragon hard on the face. It then proceeded to run back into the trees, giving the brown dragon a cow kick for good measure on the way.

"What is it with us and dragons recently!" Danny exclaimed "Wherever we go, they find us!"

At that point, the brown dragon, a little dazed from the smack on the head, spotted the trio.

"Uh oh, I think he's seen us!" Tucker stated

"You guys run!" Danny yelled, going ghost "I'll deal with him but it's no use you guys getting hurt too!" he added, remembering what nearly happened to Sam during his fight with Shadow. At first Sam and Tucker refused to go unless Danny came too. Sam had seen with her own eyes that dragon attacks could harm ghosts, but reluctantly left after Danny explained that he still had some protection with his ghost powers and at the very least he could stall the dragon, which was now barrelling toward them, roaring aggressively.

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"Guess Echo was right!" Shiar stated, as he and Shadow arrived at the park and almost got trampled by panicked pedestrians "something definitely caused a stir here!"

"You don't have faith in your own sister?" Shadow asked

"Of course I have!" Shiar retorted "I just thought I'd state the obvious!"

"You like doing that don't you?" Shadow replied "nevertheless, we'd better get this sorted before that idiot starts going on live T.V. and announcing to the world that dragons are real!"

Just as the crush of people had cleared enough for Shadow and Shiar to get into the park, a young boy barrelled into the green haired dragon, knocking him over.

"Tucker!" called the boy's companion, a young Goth girl. She stopped suddenly when she noticed Shadow.

"YOU!" she exclaimed, ignoring the fact that Shiar had kicked Tucker of him and got himself up!

"What about me?" Shadow asked "Oh wait, you were that girl who was with the Halfa the other night! Sam, wasn't it?"

"That's right! And you'd better leave him alone or…"

"Or what?" Shiar laughed "Seriously! What chance do you _really_ have against us?"

"Not now Shiar!" Shadow snapped "We've got an outsider to dispose of!"

"Are you talking about the brown dragon or the red one?" Tucker asked, dusting himself down.

"A red one?" Shadow asked quizzically.

"Yeah, with a flame on his tail!" Tucker added. Shiar and Shadow stared at each other for a moment then both bolted off into the park without any explanation at all!

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Danny wasn't having fun! The brown dragon was pummelling him into the dirt and there was barely anything he could do to stop it!

What really got to Danny, as he managed to slip out from under the brown dragon's claws, was that if the dragon was as strong as this, why did he turn tail and flee the other day when Shadow hit him? Unless Shadow was hiding something, he hadn't been stronger than this guy!

Zipping round behind the dragon, Danny unleashed the biggest Ecto blast he could muster. The attack hit a point right between the dragon's wings, causing him to fall forwards with the impact.

It was too early for celebration however, as the dragon pushed himself back up and let loose with a large burst of flame. Luckily Danny managed to dodge it, with just a singe in his uniform warning him how close he'd been.

"HEY! I'd cut down on the Chilli Peppers if I were you pal!" he yelled tauntingly. The dragon hesitated for a moment. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but instead just retaliated with another flame blast. As Danny barely evaded the line of fire, he realised just what Shadow had meant when he'd suggested that dragons had their ways of fighting ghosts!

Danny launched another Ecto Blast at dragon, but this time the attack was simply batted out of the way. The dragon took a swipe with his claws and managed to securely pin the Halfa down. Just as Danny was about to become fried ghost, something big and green charged into the dragon's side, pushing him over. Released from the dragon's grip, Danny flew up out of reach, to get his bearings and work out just what the hell had happened.

"If you couldn't beat that dragon, I don't know what makes Shiar think HE can!" came a voice to Danny's right. He jumped (well, considering he was flying at the time he more sort of flew upwards slightly) when he saw Shadow flying there next to him

"After all" Shadow added "he couldn't beat you!" At this point Danny recognised the green dragon which had pushed the brown one over. It was the first dragon Danny had ever fought!

"Aren't you going to help your friend?" Danny asked, hovering away from Shadow in case he decided to start attacking him again.

"In a minute! I'm waiting for just the right moment…" Shadow replied. Shiar managed to force the brown dragon to stand upright on its back legs. Danny hadn't noticed it until now but right at the base of the brown dragon's neck was a small multicoloured gem stone. "Aha, just as I thought!" Shadow stated "If you wanna make yourself useful, either get lost or try to hit that stone!"

"Is this what dragons do for fun?" Danny asked, sarcastically

"Did you consider it 'fun' when you were getting beat up earlier?" Shadow asked. Danny shook his head "Neither do we!" the dragon-boy dived down as close to the brown dragon as he dared and fired off a few electrical spheres on the way past. The attacks repelled the dragon backwards but unfortunately all missed the stone itself.

Danny took his turn at trying to hit the stone. One of his attacks hit it, but not with enough force to actually move it.

Not amused with all this, the brown dragon swung his tail round, hitting both Danny and Shadow, knocking them several metres away. Shiar followed soon after.

"Dammit, Halfa! Tell your stupid fan club to go somewhere safe for a change!" Shadow yelled as Sam and Tucker ran to help Danny up.

Shadow jumped back up and leapt back into the fray along with Shiar

"I thought I told you two to go someplace safe!" Danny stated, brushing off the dust and soot.

"We were, but we ran into Shadow and that other dragon!" Sam replied

"Yeah! Literally!" Tucker added.

"Well I'd suggest moving to a safer position!" Shadow yelled, as he landed a couple of feet away from the group after getting thrown again.

"Hate to admit it but he's right!" Danny agreed "you guys move back to a safe distance. Ghosts are one thing, but crazed, fire-breathing dragons are another!"

"Be careful Danny!" Sam warned. Danny was just about to reply but was knocked over by an accurately thrown Shiar - still in dragon form.

"Sheesh, why don't you just kiss him and be done with it already!" Shiar roared, pushing himself back up. "Either help or just buzz off!"

At this point Danny realised the situation was serious. Shadow and Shiar were really putting everything they had into this battle, why would they bother if it was just territorial conflict? They were also willing to let him help, despite the fact that he was half ghost! Bearing all this in mind, Danny gave a yell and jumped straight back into the battle, aiming every attack he could at the brown dragon.

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Even with two dragons and a half ghost attacking him, the brown dragon wasn't going down easily. In Shadow's experience, few dragons were this strong… and those that were, were never scared to prove it openly! Then there was the matter of the multicoloured gem stone - since when did dragons wear jewellery in their dragon forms? Shadow wasn't even sure if knocking the stone off would actually do anything, but it seemed a good place to start.

Shadow managed to catch glimpses of Danny as he fought. To give him his due, the Halfa really was trying. He could easily have run away to safety like every other ghost would do, but no, he was here, allied with someone who'd previously tried to kill him, fighting against a psycho he'd only met two days ago! Shadow made a mental note to give the Halfa more credit in future!

Eventually Shiar managed to get in a lucky hit. Swiping at the brown dragon, his claws managed to dislodge the stone, knocking it clear from the battle. As soon as it was removed, the brown dragon backed off a few paces, then shot off back into the forest.

"Well, that was weird!" Danny stated "Guess you were right about the stone thing" Shadow didn't reply, but turned to leave. Shiar transformed back to his humanoid form and followed. "HEY!" Danny called out "Aren't you going to explain what's going on here?" Shadow stopped and looked back at Danny.

"If I knew what was going on and if I knew it concerned you, I might" Shadow retorted "However I don't, and, in case you haven't noticed, it's broad daylight right now! So we're going home!"

"Yeah, unlike _some_ Dragons, we prefer to remain active at night!" Shiar added, taking extra care to stress the word 'some'

"Yeah but…"

"Listen Halfa, just because we fought together to get rid of a problem dragon, doesn't mean we're friends! You're still a ghost…"

"HALF-GHOST!" Danny corrected, irately

"Whatever! What I'm saying is, you're still… uh… a spectrally inclined being, and we're dragons! Take the hint already!"

"One more thing…" Danny questioned cautiously

"WHAT!" Shadow snapped, getting quite irate with the Halfa now.

"What's a Liagren?" Danny realised he'd overstepped the line when he saw the dragons' reaction to this. Shadow looked like someone had just slapped him. Shiar merely looked away nervously.

"I don't know how you discovered that word, but it's none of your business!" Shadow growled, then, after shooting a dirty look at Shiar who was trying, unsuccessfully, not to laugh, he stalked off.

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Watching the two dragons leave, Danny made the transition back to human.

"Looks like you definitely hit a sore spot there!" Tucker stated

"He didn't seem to like it very much did he?" Danny chuckled

"What do you think, Sam?" Tucker asked

"Sam?" Danny tried when she didn't reply. Danny and Tucker looked round to find out why Sam hadn't answered them and saw the Goth girl poking cautiously at the discarded gem stone on the ground. Finally, satisfied that it was now completely harmless, she picked it up.

"I think I wanna know what this thing is!" Sam replied, walking over to her two friends. "The dragons didn't seem very interested in finding out what it is, but that doesn't mean we can't!"

"Well, let's not do it here!" Danny suggested "the stories of a dragon attack seems to be attracting a crowd!" As Danny spoke people were wandering around the outskirts of the park peering in to see why it had suddenly gone so quiet.

"Guess what's gonna be all over the news later!" Tucker stated, sarcastically.

"I think you're right! Let's get out of here before the reporters and cameras turn up! Jazz'll never let us live it down if she catches us on a news report about a dragon attack!" Danny replied. So, trying not to act too suspiciously, the trio hurried away.

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"Don't worry Shadow" Shiar said, whilst keeping out of strike range "I'm sure he didn't know what that word meant"

"That's not the point!" Shadow snapped "The point is, he actually knew it was a dragon word… he had to in order to know to ask _me_ what it meant! Ghosts don't know the dragon language, Shiar!"

"I know… I can't explain it either" Shiar replied "just like I can't explain the brown dragon running riot!"

"I can't pretend that's not going to be a blow to the dragon community, but it's his lead dragon's job to tell him off for that one!"

"Do you think we should've brought that strange stone with us?"

"No, I have a feeling we're gonna find out what's happening soon enough!" Shadow said suddenly stopping. Shiar looked to find out what Shadow had seen that had made him stop, and smiled when he noticed the familiar fiery red-haired boy standing just a few yards up the road. He was wearing a black sleeveless jacket over a white sleeveless shirt, a pair of light brown trousers and also sported a choker-like necklace with a deep turquoise jewel on it. He was currently leaning against a railing watching Shadow and Shiar's approach with interest. His tail, which possessed three spikes at the end, was swaying gently.

"Adama!" Shiar called out "Long time no see! I thought you were back in Egypt now!"

"Yeah it has been a while hasn't it?" Adama replied. He didn't have a strong Arabic accent but it was there enough to be able to tell English wasn't his first human language. "I'd like to say I was just here for a visit but…"

"But, it's about Them isn't it?" Shadow asked, knowing Adama and Shiar would know who he was referring to.

"Unfortunately, they seem to have vanished!" Adama explained " I was coming here to let you know when I bumped into that brown dragon."

"And the gem stone?" Shiar began, fitting the information together

"Reeks of their energy! Definitely their work!" Adama finished "What are the chances of them being here?"

"Should we warn the Halfa?" Shiar asked

"No, this doesn't concern him" Shadow replied "we'll just keep things going as normal!"

"You know the Halfa? Since when?" Adama asked

"I'll explain it to you later" Shadow said "In the meantime… I know a certain Albino dragon who'd like to see you again…"

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 3:**

**- Brown Dragon:** The brown dragon wasn't going to show up again, however, in a bid to limit the confusion caused by adding too many characters, I decided to reuse him!

**- Red Dragon:** Pokemon fans will be correct in guessing that I got the tail flame idea from Charizard. There is a reason for this, but I'm not gonna explain it right now!

**- Shiar Techo:** I created Shiar within the space of five minutes, especially for this fic. His first name was inspired by 'Chiar' which was the name given to an alien species from a Star Trek Voyager book. I didn't want Shadow to be the first dragon Danny met, and Shiar fitted the bill perfectly! Over time he started to become a more prominent character, even getting promoted to one of the lead characters in a comic I started, at which point I finally gave him a surname. He's also the first character of mine to wear glasses ala Kakei from Legal Drug, though he doesn't wear them in this fic!

Welcome to the end of Chapter 3... I can't believe I finished it! I guess determination can do great things… well, that and 2 litres of Pepsi! WOOHOO!

I've got Chapter 4 more or less thought out in my head and just needs to be written down so, hopefully, time permitting, I should get it done soon.

So now I'll leave you with a few words:

_This morning I had a slice of toast, and then I brushed my teeth…_

WOO! I love Futurama!


	4. Chap4 Forget Chanting my Name…

Well, it took a while, but I finally got sorted with chapter 4! I'd also like to say that, if any readers are interested in seeing pictures of any of the non-Danny Phantom characters that I've added for the story, then I've posted the link to some drawings of them in my profile.Once at the website just click the link on the right side of the animation for the drawings related to this Fanfic. Using your imagination's all very well, but nothing beats seeing the characters as their creators envisioned them (I wonder if that's how Butch Hartman feels? Speaking of which, here comes some legal stuff…)

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**Legal Disclaimer**

I don't own Danny Phantom… isn't that just a kick in the teeth? The show and all the characters in it were created by and are the property of Butch Hartman.

Perona, the dragons and any character that shows up in this story that has never appeared in ANY Danny Phantom episode were created by and belong to me.

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 4**

**Forget Chanting my Name… JUST EAT POWER CHORD!**

Managing somehow to avoid being collared by news reporters who'd suddenly swamped the area asking for eye witness accounts, Danny, Sam and Tucker decided it would be best to leave researching the stone until Sunday. To be honest, they really didn't know where to start with it, and if nothing else, there was still a pile of homework that had to be done!

Danny volunteered to look after the stone. He didn't know why, but he felt that if he kept hold of it, the answer would just come to him - like how Perona had just suddenly volunteered the password to him without him even telling her what he was attempting to do!

Having said their goodbyes, the three went their separate ways. As he walked home, Danny pulled the stone out of his pocket for a closer look. It was shaped like a flat oval, roughly three centimetres in length and the edges were curved so that the two flat sides weren't quite as big as the size of the stone itself. As he turned it over in his hand the stone reflected various different colours, however, when he blocked it from the sunlight it showed up its true purple colour.

Danny was so engrossed in looking at the trinket that he accidentally bumped into Perona coming the other way. She looked a little nervous - even more so than she had at school the previous day.

"Sorry about that!" Danny said, slipping the stone back in his pocket and hoping Perona hadn't seen it "I really should start looking where I'm going more often!" Perona smiled, but even that didn't completely cover up her current perturbed state. "Are you okay?" Danny asked when Perona didn't reply.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Perona replied "All I've been seeing over the last half an hour or so is people rushing around like complete idiots! Is something going on?" Danny got the distinct impression that Perona wanted to change the subject.

"You could say that" he replied "Trust me, you won't want to go near the park for a while! It's getting pretty crowded there at the moment!"

"I guess a dragon attack would attract a lot of attention" Perona stated

"Wow! News does travel fast!" Danny exclaimed

"I heard some one mention it whilst they were running around like a headless chicken" Perona looked away momentarily.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Danny asked again.

"I'm okay. I'm just still trying to adjust, that's all!" Perona explained "And… uh…  
I'm a little lost!" she added looking a little embarrassed. Danny laughed

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it!" he said trying to cheer her up "I'll point you in the right direction! Maybe we'll have to see about getting you a map!"

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Back at the dragons abode, Adama was currently recounting his story to the rest of the group which, since the current Amity Park dragon population currently consisted of just four and since Shadow and Shiar had already heard it, meant that just the two female dragons - Echo and Novena - were currently uninformed about what was going on!

When Shadow had said there was an albino dragon who'd like to see Adama he hadn't been kidding! Twelve year old Novena had been stuck to the fire dragon ever since he'd arrived. This probably had something to do with the fact that Adama had been the one who'd first introduced Novena to the group a few years back. She'd been quite upset when Adama had returned to Egypt.

"So they've finally done it huh?" Echo asked, trying to take in the information Adama had presented. "Lyric and Lotus have finally managed to escape their guardians and hightail it out of the country!" Adama blushed at this statement.

"Well, it's not like we stood around and waved them goodbye as they left!" he countered sharply "One theory going round is that they must have teleported somehow!"

"But Adama" Novena piped up "dragons can't teleport! Not even Lyric and Lotus have the power to do that!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Adama snapped back. "Besides" he added more gently after seeing Novena's hurt look "even if they could, the tomb's cryptically sealed - pardon the pun! No-one but the Guard Dragons can pass through the barrier, even through teleporting!"

"At the moment, the important thing is not how they got out, but exactly where they are at this point in time!" Shadow butted in

"Well, that's the thing! Imagine my surprise when I came here to find you and Shiar, only to discover that those two evil entities had already beaten me to it!" Adama said, in stark disbelief.

"Well, we're not going to find out anything at this moment in time!" Shadow said, stifling a yawn. "I dunno about you but I'm going to bed. Even if we could find and oppose Lyric and Lotus right now, I seriously doubt any one of us is going to be able to do so without falling asleep part way through!"

"Don't blame you!" Adama said "Think I'm suffering from a little jet lag myself! Maybe later tonight you can introduce me that Halfa friend of yours!" he added.

"The Halfa ain't my friend, Adama!" Shadow retorted

"I know, I know! I was just kidding around!" Adama laughed. As Shadow stood up to leave, Adama called after him. "By the way, I've been meaning to warn you! I've seen a familiar red-haired girl wandering around here" Shadow blinked.

"You sure?"

"Well, I can't say for certain. I didn't stop to check, what with tracking the brown dragon and all, but it did look like her!"

"Lovely! She doesn't give up does she?" Shadow stated sarcastically "And you can shut up! IT'S NOT FUNNY!" he added, looking at Adama who was desperately trying to hide his laughter.

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"Thanks for showing me around this afternoon!" Perona said, sticking a straw into her cup of Cola "That's twice you've helped me out. I hope I'm not keeping you from anything"

After showing Perona around Amity Park, the two of them had stopped off at the Nasty Burger fast food restaurant. Perona had calmed down considerably since Danny had run into her earlier.

"Meh, only homework! " Danny replied cheerfully.

"Won't you get into trouble for that?" Perona asked worriedly.

"Probably, but I'll make up for it, after all I've still got all day tomorrow to work on it!" On the last word of that sentence, the Halfa's ghost sense went off. Danny cupped his hand over his mouth instinctively.

"Are you okay?" Perona asked.

"Yeah, fine! I, uh… my drink went down the wrong way!" Danny explained, faking a cough to make the story more believable. "I'll be right back!" with that he stood up and rushed off to find somewhere secluded to 'go ghost'

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Having eventually been able find somewhere to transform - he'd used a toilet cubicle in the end! Not very Superman-like but… any port in a storm! - Danny located the reason his ghost sense went off. It was Ember McLean, a female rock-star ghost who's powers grew stronger the more people chanted her name. Only she wasn't alone! Standing opposite her was a guy who quite clearly didn't belong here. He was wearing a long red sleeveless jacket and brown trousers. His hair, which was a semi-dark purple colour, fell to just below shoulder length. But what stood out most, was a pair of black horns and a long purple tail, ending in a pair of black spikes.

If Danny didn't know better he'd have said he'd interrupted a tender moment! Except for the fact that Ember was a ghost and this guy most definitely appeared to be a dragon! Plus Ember seemed to be in some kind of trance. She was totally out if it! The purple-haired dragon glanced at Danny.

"Is that the famous Ghost Boy?" He asked. Ember turned to look at Danny on the dragon's question, a blank look in her eyes, and nodded. "Well then, why don't you go and take your anger out on him!"

Ember obeyed immediately. Danny knew Ember was not likely to ever hesitate to attack him, but she was being uncharacteristically obedient, especially to a dragon! This turn of events meant that Danny, wrapped up in thought, was caught unawares by Ember's unique 'Power Chord' attack which is caused by the vibrations from her Guitar - well, what kind of weapon did you expect a rock girl to use? The poor Halfa was once again thrown backwards and sent crashing to the ground several yards away. Danny couldn't work out how she'd gotten so strong! Nobody was chanting her name! Then he saw it… a chocker necklace with a pearly stone in the centre! He'd never seen her wearing that before and was suddenly reminded of the brown dragon. _So, all I have to do is get that necklace? _Danny thought as he barely evaded another attack. _Easier said than done!_ He launched his own attacks right back at Ember, most of them causing little effect. He even tried capturing her in the Fenton Thermos, but she was too quick. It seemed that, not only was the necklace making her totally obedient to this dragon, it was making her more powerful than chanting ever could! Ember nimbly evaded all of Danny's attacks and hit him with her guitar before he'd had a chance to go intangible, or even just move out of the way! The ghost-boy was winded when he hit the ground and accidentally let go of the Thermos, allowing it to roll out of reach.

Danny pushed himself back up with a little difficulty. It had only been a few hours ago that he had been thrown all over the park by the brown dragon and it still hurt! He didn't even need to look at Ember to know she was lining up her next attack, but was forced to when, instead of attacking, Ember let out a cry of pain. Danny looked up to see the ghost being pelted with fireballs.

"WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE WHO HASN'T AREADY BEEN IN A FIGHT TODAY!" came an angry sounding yell, followed by some more fireballs. Ember was pushed backwards by the barrage during which time Perona ran up beside Danny.

"Need a hand, Phantom?" she asked helping him up "or should I say, Fenton?"

"What? How'd you know who I am?" Danny asked, somewhat stunned

"It's a long story! I'll tell you about it sometime… but not now! We've got work to do!" Perona replied turning back to Ember, who'd now recovered from her fiery bombardment and suddenly launched another Power Chord attack. Danny jumped in front of Perona and set up his energy shield. It didn't last long - Ember's attack shattered it a few seconds later and Danny and Perona were still flung backwards - but it still managed to provide some protection. Perona leapt back up and launched another round of fireballs, however this time they had little effect.

"I don't get it!" Danny exclaimed "why aren't your attacks working this time?"

"I caught her unawares last time!" Perona replied whilst they leapt left, right and centre to avoid Ember's attacks "Now she knows I'm here she's guarded…" This time it was Perona who felt the full force of being smacked by a guitar.

"ROE!" Danny was just about to jump in and help Perona, when a single word suddenly popped into his head. _Thermos!_ Danny looked to where he remembered dropping the Fenton Thermos and there it was, lying just a few feet away. He looked back at Ember. It seemed Perona was doing everything she could to keep the ghost distracted. Could he make it to the Thermos before Ember noticed? Danny took the chance and flew as fast as he could. He scooped up the Thermos as he flew past it, pulled off the lid and pointed it at Ember. The blue beam shot out, caught the ghost and pulled her into it. Danny slammed the lid back on, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Glad that's over with!" he stated. He spoke too soon! Before he even realised what was going on, the Halfa was slammed against the nearest tree and held there by the purple-haired dragon. The dragon hadn't partaken in the battle at all, and in all the confusion with Ember, Danny had completely forgotten about him. It was impossible to ignore him now though

"I'd stay out of this if I were you Halfa!" he said threateningly "you have NO idea what we're capable of!" With that the dragon snatched the Fenton Thermos from Danny's hand and stalked off.

Rubbing his throat where the dragon had pinned him against the tree, Danny looked over at Perona, who'd got up and was currently dusting herself down.

"Sam was right! You ARE a dragon!" he said pointing at what appeared to be a long orange monkey-like tail sticking out from under her skirt.

"What?" Perona asked, following where Danny was pointing to "Oh! That was supposed to stay hidden! Unfortunately it's a very difficult task, especially when you get caught up in a battle!" she added, looking sheepish! "However, you're not entirely correct! But that's not important right now! I think we're going to need to have a little talk!"

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"So that guy was a ghost?" Danny asked. He had transformed back to his human form and he and Perona were now back in the Nasty Burger, only this time they'd chosen a table as far out of earshot as possible.

"Half ghost!" Perona corrected "Lyric's a half ghost, half dragon!"

"How'd that happen? Did he get too close to an opening portal to the Ghost Zone too?" Danny asked.

"Actually, no!" Perona replied "That friend I told you about? The one I came here looking for? He once told me about Lyric! I'm sure you noticed that he had a pair of horns on his head?" Danny nodded " Dragons haven't sported horns on anywhere but their tails in humanoid form for over a century now…"

"You mean, Lyric's over a hundred years old!"

"Well, he IS part ghost!"

"Good point!"

"The dragon / ghost war had reached a stalemate. Apparently, Lyric and his brother Lotus, started secretly conducting powerful dark magic about this time. Their reasoning for this was to help break the stalemate and turn the tide of the war in the dragons favour! But they were found out! The magic they were trying to awaken, had been prohibited in the dragon world - the reasons for this were unknown but it scared the dragons enough to keep enforcing it - and the penalty for trying to use it was severe!" Perona paused and took a sip of her drink

"So they were turned into half-ghosts?" Danny asked

"They were turned into less than ghosts… they still had forms, but they were unable to touch or interact with anything! They were ghosts permanently stuck in intangibility mode!" Perona explained

"He felt pretty solid to me when he pinned me against the tree and stole the Fenton Thermos!" Danny pointed out

"No-one knows exactly how they managed to get their normal forms and powers back, but it's thought to be something to do with the dark power they awakened!" Perona stated "But, that reminds me… were there any other ghosts apart from Ember in that Thermos?"

"No, I've already put the ones I caught last night into the Ghost Zone. Ember was the first one I'd caught today" Danny replied

"Good, we don't want to be sending Lyric recruits for his army now, do we?" Perona said, looking at her watch "Wow! Is that the time? I'd better get going! I told my Aunt I'd be back over half an hour ago!" She got up to leave.

"Yeah, I'd better go too!" Danny agreed "I can at least get _some_ homework done tonight! Need any help getting home?"

"No, it's okay thanks" Perona said "I've got my map now!"

"But I haven't given you a map yet!" Danny said, a little confused

"Oh no?" Perona gave Danny a knowing look "are you sure?"

"Wait… are you the one who told me to get the Thermos while you were distracting Ember?" Danny asked, possibly a little too loudly. Perona said nothing, but simply smiled and winked at the Halfa before waving goodbye and leaving.

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As Danny walked home, wondering if anything else was going to jump out and attack him on the way, he put his hand in his pocket and suddenly remembered the stone he'd retrieved from the dragon. He whacked himself on the forehead when he realised he'd forgotten to show it to Perona. Oh well, it wasn't the end of the world… at least he hoped it wasn't the end of the world. Danny also realised that, though she had stressed that he hadn't been completely right about her being a dragon, she hadn't actually told him what she was. Danny made a mental note to sort all this out tomorrow. Right now though, he just wanted to get home. The sun was not long off setting, and the last thing he wanted right now was for Shadow to come searching for a rematch. Unfortunately his ghost sense didn't seem to have a dragon setting, so he had no clue if Shadow - or any of the other dragons for that matter - might be watching him.

However, luck was on his side this afternoon, and he made it home without any more problems. When he got in, he ran straight up to his room, and hastily wrote down everything that had happened in e-mails to Sam and Tucker. After all, they were his best friends, he shared everything with them! Perona hadn't specifically said for him to keep his mouth shut, and if she'd really been able to read his mind she'd have known he would tell them.

All of a sudden Danny shivered, and it had nothing to do with his ghost sense. It had just occurred to him how much of an invasion into his privacy Perona had. He finished the e-mails then reluctantly forced himself to start on his homework.

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 4:**

**- Ember McLean: **Ember was supposed to have been freed by Danny and Perona at the end of this chapter, but I'd already done that with the brown dragon so I decided she could stay as Lyric's lackey for a little while longer!

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There you go, Chapter 4! I'm sorry it took so long. Hopefully Chapter 5 will be up sooner. Enjoy!

PS. On one final note for Danny Phantom fans living in the UK: Danny Phantom: the Ultimate Enemy video game for the Gameboy advance looks set to see a UK release on the 1st June 2006. I've already reserved my copy!


	5. Chap5 The Halfa from Wisconsin

-1Wow, chapter 5! Well, what can I say? None of my stories have ever got this far before! But then, I've never had this much encouragement or inspiration before! However, there is a far amount of talking in this chapter so I apologise if it gets a bit boring!

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**Legal Disclaimer**

I don't own Danny Phantom…

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 5**

**The Halfa from Wisconsin**

Wisconsin - home to one Mr Vladimir Masters (and one ghost of the Legendary Wisconsin Dairy King!). Vlad was also a Halfa, like Danny, although he'd had several more years experience with his powers. And, just as Danny refers to his ghost form as Danny Phantom, Vlad refers to his as Vlad Plasmius. By an interesting coincidence, Jack Fenton was also responsible for Vlad's Halfa status, due to a malfunctioning miniature ghost portal that he'd created during his college days. Vlad had spent many years after that in hospital trying to find a cure for his 'Ecto Acne' and blamed Jack whole-heartedly for ruining his chances at dating Maddie, which brings us to the scene currently taking place in the white-haired billionaire's mansion.

Vlad stared at the scene unfolding in his lounge with a little frustration. The purple-haired dragon, Lyric was sitting on the sofa, leafing through several piles of rather old and dusty books, and, sitting on the floor was another younger looking male dragon. This other dragon had short purple and black hair and a purple tail, ended with two black pointed tips and - like his older brother - he also sported a pair of horns, though thinner and purple. He was currently rearranging some strange looking stones into various different patterns on the rug.

"I thought we had a deal!" Vlad stated, walking up to Lyric, unable to keep his patience any longer

"We did?" Lyric replied, not even looking up from the book he was currently looking at.

"Yes! I freed you!" Vlad said angrily "and in exchange you were to kill Jack Fenton, and bring his family to me!" For a long while now, Vlad had been scheming to finally get his chance with Maddie, and, as a bonus, to get the younger Halfa on his side.

"I wouldn't call that a deal!" Lyric retorted putting his book down calmly and looking up at Vlad "You freed us and _then_ shoved that order down our throats! We didn't actually agree to do _anything_ for you!" Vlad shot a look of annoyance at the younger dragon, who'd started giggling.

"One of us may get round to killing him at sometime!" Lyric said, picking up another book from the pile "but it'll be on _our _terms and with no exceptions! We won't be sparing any human's life just because a ghost Halfa with an over-inflated ego wishes it!" However this only succeeded in enraging Vlad further

"After everything I went through to release you two ungrateful beasts _and_ I allow you to stay in my home, and _this_ is how you repay me?"

"That's not true!" the younger dragon piped up suddenly "we're very grateful!"

"Lotus is right, Plasmius! And we've already repaid you for it… by not killing you!" Lyric stated, bluntly.

"WHAT?" Vlad replied suddenly

"Well, we may be part ghost now, but we were born dragon!" Lyric explained "which means that technically, we should've killed you by now. However, as you freed us, we haven't! And to add to that, we're not subjecting to you to the same fate as will befall every other ghost and dragon on the planet" Lyric indicated the thermos sitting on the coffee table which still had the possessed Ember trapped inside. "But, if _that's _the way you feel about it…" Lyric formed an electric energy ball in his right hand. Vlad backed off a little. He'd observed what the two brothers had done to the dragon guardians of the Sahara situated crypt. One of the guardians in particular - a young red-haired dragon - had attempted to strike up a conversation, before he'd been beaten down by Lyric and Lotus. Vlad hadn't been able to hear what the dragon had tried to say though, since it was a strange language, consisting mostly of growls intermingled with words that were definitely not in the English dictionary. Whatever he'd said though hadn't sat well with Lyric and they hadn't stuck around long enough afterward to check whether the downed dragon was dead or just unconscious. Either way, it had been a rather nasty attack. Vlad decided it was best not to push his luck with these two and conceded defeat.

"I'd knew you'd see it our way Vladimir!" Lyric said, letting the energy ball in his hand disappear. Holding back his anger for the time being, Vlad left the two dragons to their own devices and went back to plotting his own evil plans.

When he was sure Vlad was out of earshot, Lotus sat down in the sofa next to his older brother.

"Lyric? Somehow I find it hard to believe that half-ghost managed to release us by himself!" he said, looking towards the door Vlad had left out of.

"Of course he didn't, Lotus, not by himself!" Lyric replied "If the two of us together couldn't even create a crack in the barrier, then what chance does that guy have? No, there's something more going on here! Something I can't quite work out yet"

"Is that why you're going through all of these books?" Lotus asked, picking up the closest book to him and wiping the dust off of the cover unveiling its dragon written title which Lotus was able to translate as meaning 'Ancient Dragon Magic' "And where'd you get these anyway? I thought they were all burnt under the law forbidding dark magic!"

"Not all of them were!" Lyric replied "The Council secreted a single copy of each book, magically sealed away in a hidden vault under Amity Park, just in case the time ever came to use them again! That's why I agreed to come to Wisconsin with Vladimir. From here we are in range of Amity Park and we can keep both Halfas in check too!" Lyric smirked

"Both Halfas?" Lotus questioned, echoing his brother's words. Lyric nodded

"Guess who I happened to meet up with on my way to pick up the books…"

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The next day came a knock on the Fenton's front door. Maddie answered it to find Perona standing on the doorstep.

"Hi Mrs Fenton, I'm a friend of Danny's!" Perona said as politely as she could, whilst still unintentionally managing to sound a little nervous. "Is he in?"

"Oh, yes he is. He's upstairs at the moment, with Sam and Tucker" Maddie replied "Come in, I'll just call him down for you." With that offer, Perona stepped into the house. As she did so, Jazz spotted her.

"Hey Roe!" She called, coming over to greet her. "how're you settling in to Amity Park?"

"Great, thanks!" Perona replied "Danny's been showing me around, and I'm starting to get my bearings now"

"Good! Y'know I'm so glad you're getting on with Danny and his friends! I'd hate to think of you having to get around here all by yourself" Jazz said, cheerfully

"That's almost exactly what my Aunt said!" Perona stated " She was a little worried about me making such a big decision in such a short space of time, but I think it's worked out pretty well so far!"

"Well, you don't appear to have gone insane yet, but I guess I shouldn't jinx it!" Jazz joked "Ah, here comes Danny now!"

"HEY! Roe's NOT gonna go insane hanging around with US!" Danny exclaimed

"Well, I've got homework to do, I'll see you two later!" Jazz said, chuckling to herself as she walked off.

"Ignore her!" Danny stated "Sam and Tucker are waiting upstairs for us." Perona followed him to the staircase, but… there seemed to be something different about him today. He was more uncomfortable around her than normal, and she didn't need to try reading his mind to know exactly why that was. But it wasn't until she saw that Sam and Tucker were acting the same way, that she realised Danny must have told them too, and she decided that it needed to be rectified ASAP if she was to continue being friends with them! Thankfully, it was Tucker that brought the subject up first.

"So… You can read minds huh?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"I'm sorry, Roe" Danny said suddenly, "I had to tell them. I mean, they're my best friends…" But before he could continue with his apologetic explanation, Perona stopped him.

"Don't worry Danny, it's ok! I was hoping someone would bring this up!" She explained "It's just that, with you all looking as though you're trying desperately not to think, I feel you should know that I can't currently read _any_ of your minds!" When everyone was looking at her questioningly, Perona continued "I can't read anything unless you _want_ me to!"

"But I don't get it" Sam piped up "we didn't know that you could mind read so we never actually gave you permission to"

"It works a little differently from that" Perona said, turning to the Goth girl "As long as you actually _want _me to know something, then I can access it regardless of whether vocal permission was given. For example, Danny wanted me to have a map of the surrounding area, after I got hopelessly lost yesterday. And, since he already knows his way around, he therefore wanted me to have that same information, and so I was able to read it from him! I was also able to discover that Danny was half ghost, because for some reason he intended to show me his ghost form, though I don't know why!"

"Ah" Danny started "I can explain that! I was gonna let you see my ghost form, because we were trying to work out whether you were a dragon or not!"

"Well, that does clear things up!" Perona said.

"Not for us it doesn't!" Sam retorted. "You never did tell Danny what you are!"

"Yeah, you said I was wrong when I stated you were a dragon" the ghost-boy added.

"I said you weren't entirely correct!" Perona corrected him. "I am dragon - or at least, I have dragon in my ancestry - but a different kind to the ones you know of! There's actually two different species of dragon: There are the common wild dragons - they're the ones you know of - and the slightly rarer Hyrrens. According to my known family tree, my Great Great Grandfather was half Hyrren! Obviously only one of his parents was full Hyrren but which one is unknown! That information was lost over time!" There was a few seconds of silence, then Tucker spoke up.

"So, not only have we discovered that so called 'mythical' dragons _do _in fact exist, but there are also _two _different species!"

"Pretty much, yeah!" Perona replied "though you're unlikely to find any full Hyrrens around here! Amity Park's now been officially labelled Dragon Territory, and no Hyrren will be found dead anywhere near a dragon territory!"

"Some tension there then?" Danny asked "so, why are you living in Amity Park?"

"Tension? Get a dragon and a Hyrren together and it becomes an explosion! The difference is that I inherited the powers but not the attitude. Dragons don't tend to have a problem with someone who's Hyrren blood is diluted as mine!" Perona explained "That's why I'm allowed the password to the dragon's info site!"

"These dragons seem a little aggressive if you ask me" Tucker said "They start wars with ghosts _and _with other dragons" Perona was relieved that everyone seemed so much more relaxed now. It was true that she couldn't read information from anyone's minds unless they wanted her to know it, but not everyone would take her explanation at face value. It was nice to finally have human friends - and one human/ghost friend - who didn't seem to mind. With this in mind Perona cheerfully replied to Tucker's statement

"Wild dragons _are_ aggressive! They have a primal survival instinct and prefer to distance themselves from humans whenever possible. That's why Hyrrens don't like them very much. Hyrrens usually live disguised as humans, because they don't like to have to hide away completely. They don't care much for the ghost feud either." Perona started "But there are other differences too. For instance dragons tend to be shorter and have either furry or scaly tails which almost always have a shaped end and Hyrrens are taller with monkey-like tails, like mine!" She indicated her tail which, now she was with people who knew about her, she was making no attempt to hide. "and if after all that, you're still in doubt, Hyrrens have feathered wings and dragons have leathery bat-like ones! But, when all's said and done, some dragons can be pretty nice when you get to know them."

"I think the ones I met were more interested in killing me then getting to know me!" Danny stated dryly

"Oh yeah that reminds me!" Perona said suddenly "About Lyric and Lotus. By now, the Amity Park dragons should already know what's going on but I think we should still find them, just in case they don't"

"Well, let's face it, they didn't seem very interested when that dragon attacked us at the park" the Halfa replied "after all, they weren't even bothered enough to take this with them!" he added, walking over to his desk and picking up the stone that was sitting on top of it.

"You'll probably find they didn't need it!" Perona said "But we're going to have to find a way to get them to meet us!"

"I think we can handle this one!" Sam said, looking at Danny.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed "after all, we have bait…"

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After much protesting from Danny, who quite plainly didn't want to act as dragon bait, it was finally agreed that they would all meet up later after the sun has set. It was also agreed that the would stay as far away from the park as possible, especially as Danny's parents had started staking it out, under the theory that ghosts were responsible for yesterday's incident, ever since they'd heard about what had happened.

Perona pointed out that the dragons were also unlikely to return to the park for the same reason, so it worked out better.

So, with this all sorted they decided to meet up at the same place where Danny and Perona had fought Ember the previous afternoon. If Shadow was looking for a rematch then it would make sense for them to stay in one place and let him catch up with them.

This was how they came to be standing around, in the darkness, doing absolutely nothing for about an hour and a half!

"Ok, who's bright idea was this?" Tucker piped up suddenly. Danny, who had already transformed into his ghost form in order to save time, was quick to point out that it had been Tucker's idea to use him as bait. Tucker, in turn, blamed Sam for suggesting it and Perona? Well, Perona backed off and said nothing, especially since it had been her idea to find the dragons in the first place.

"This is ridiculous!" Danny said, finally "What's taking Shadow so long!" Deep down, the Halfa was hoping that he nor any of the other dragons were going to show up at all. He honestly didn't believe Shadow was going to pass up the chance to fight him again, just because of Lyric and Lotus.

"You have to be patient, Danny" Perona stated "It's just like fishing!"

"Yeah, only with big dangerous fish that do more than just bite!" Tucker added jokingly.

"I'm gonna fly up and see if I can spot any dragons in the area!" he sighed.

"He really doesn't want to be here does he?" Perona asked

"Nope!" Sam replied "but what do you expect? Every time he's met up with dragons they've tried to kill him. Admittedly the one in the park didn't have a choice and Shadow did help that day, but still…"

"There's no need to worry, the dragons won't ignore the threat that Lyric and Lotus present. I'm sure they would prefer to work with us than to fight at the moment!" Perona reassured

"I hope you're right!" Sam stated.

Meanwhile Danny was hovering just above tree level, glancing around for any sign of movement which could potentially be a dragon, when something shot out from under the cover of the trees, hitting him fairly hard as it flew past. Danny was knocked head over heels by the attack, and when he was able to right himself, he was able to see the familiar white-haired dragon hovering just above him.

"Shadow!" Danny stated "You're not above sneak attacks I see!" Shadow smirked at that comment.

"In the dragon world, fighting fair is likely to get you killed!" the dragon replied. Then, quick as lightning he flew downwards towards Danny slamming him back down to earth. As the Halfa got himself back up again, Shadow landed a few yards away, in a battle pose, his tail lashing behind him.

"Is that the best you've got?" the dragon taunted as Danny prepared to battle again "C'mon! You did much better than that the other day! What, the battle yesterday against the brown dragon too much for you?" Shadow had intended to taunt Danny a bit more, however at that point, he was bowled over by an unseen enemy!

"THERE YOU ARE SHADOW, I KNEW I'D FIND YOU EVENTUALLY!" yelled a frighteningly familiar voice.

"Perona!" Shadow stated. Indeed, it had been Perona who'd knocked him over, and she was currently attempting to hug him to death, as though she'd missed him terribly.

"I'm so glad we're together again!" Perona said excitedly "I'm never going to let you go!"

"Oh joy!" Shadow replied sarcastically, attempting to wiggle free from the hug.

"Aw, don't pretend you're not glad to see me!" Perona said, grinning "I know you've missed me too"

"Yes… that's right… I've definitely missed these suffocating hugs!" Shadow growled "Now, if you don't mind, I'm kind of in the middle of something here!" The dragon was starting to get embarrassed now, especially since this was happening right in front of the Halfa and his friends. He could imagine what this was doing to his reputation… this was exactly why he'd left England to begin with!

"This was something you failed to tell us!" Sam said, somewhat accusingly "I can see why you were so desperate to find the dragons! You wanted to lead Danny right to _him_!"

"NO! That's not it at all!" Perona defended herself "Shadow! Lyric and Lotus are free! I just figured we'd need all the help we can get. And since Danny and his friends have been so kind to me the past few days…"

"Roe, we don't need the help of any Halfa!" Shadow retorted

"I can't believe you just said that!" Perona yelled back "You! Of all people!" Shadow opened his mouth to say something but apparently thought better of it and instead turned and started to walk off.

"Fine! Whatever! Do what you want!" he called back "just don't expect me to stick around for it!"

"Shadow…" Perona called. The dragon turned back to look Perona in the eye.

"If you'll gonna go ahead with this regardless, then you'll want to know where the other dragons are…" There was a few seconds of silence, during which, Danny, Sam and Tucker knew Perona must be reading some information from him. Then, shooting the Hyrren girl a smile, Shadow turned once again and carried on walking.

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 5:**

**- Vladimir Masters: **I hadn't intended for Vlad to appear in the story at all! I just didn't know how to write for him! But he fit in so well with the plot line that I just went ahead and wrote this part anyway. I had to watch Bitter Reunions several times to make sure I'd got everything right!

**- "Ancient Dragon Magic": **Okay, so this was the best name for a book I could come up with!

**- Hyrrens: **I came up with the Hyrren species a very long time ago, but back then Hyrrens were more like bug cross dragon things! Then Electricfox high jacked the forgotten idea and thus the Hyrren species was properly born!

**- Shadow and Perona:** If you happen to be a fan of Fruits Basket, think of Shadow and Perona's relationship as being very similar to Kyo and Kagura's!

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Well, that's chapter 5 over and done with! And, good news for UK DP fans, Nicktoons is FINALLY showing brand new eps! What took them so long?

Right! Time for me to start working on chapter 6 I think!


	6. Chap6 The Wild Dragons of Amity Park

WHAT? Am I seeing this right? Is this… CHAPTER 6! Yup, you'd better believe it! I now have a story that spans to 6 chapters!

From now on I'm sticking my chapter dividers in the middle. It looks neater that way!

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**Legal Disclaimer**

I don't own Danny Phantom… D'OH! (I don't own The Simpsons either!)

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 6**

**The Wild Dragons of Amity Park**

Perona watched Shadow leave sadly, then turned to Danny, Sam and Tucker

"Well, it looks like he doesn't _want_ our help!" Sam stated dryly

"I'm sorry about that!" She apologized "Shadow's not really the best dragon for us to ask, but with the threat of Lyric and Lotus, I was sure he would co-operate!"

"At least he's not attacking Danny right now" Tucker pointed out

"He's also not the only dragon in Amity Park" Perona said, determined not to give up that easily "I'm hoping Adama's here! He's a little easier to get on with! Plus, he is - or was - one of the guardians of the tomb that held the two ghost dragons. I doubt he'd turn us down"

"In that case, we should find them!" Danny stated. Suddenly noticing how late it was getting, he looked at his watch "Uh, but we're gonna have to do it another time! I've gotta get back for curfew! Especially since it's a school night!"

"Is it that late already?" Tucker asked, likewise looking at his watch

"It was all that waiting around for a dragon to show up!" Danny said "We're gonna have to catch up with this tomorrow night!"

"We really need to find those dragons ASAP!" Perona protested. She thought for a minute. Danny was right! They really did need to get home, but on the other hand, the sooner they made contact with the Amity Park dragons the better! "I have a suggestion…"

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Shadow was wandering around, aimlessly kicking stones as he went. Perona showing up in Amity Park was _not_ something he'd bargained on. It wasn't that he hated her - she'd been once of his best friends for a long time now - it's just that she always had a habit of derailing his plans. Here he was, finally able to face the ghost-boy, and she'd jumped him… and right in the middle of the battle too! Shadow couldn't have fought him whilst she was there, she'd never have forgiven him. That was the problem, Perona just didn't understand why it was so important for him to be the one to take down the Halfa! It wasn't fair! Why should a human/ghost hybrid be able to walk around freely when Liagrens get punished? But, he tried not to think about it, it just wound him up too much.

Shadow looked up at the starry sky. Lyric and Lotus frightened him and part of him knew Perona was right to try and call a truce - especially as both ghosts _and_ dragons were under threat - but he was just too proud to lay down his vendetta against the ghost-boy. He only hoped Adama would take the initiative and make a non-biased decision about it!

Suddenly, Shadow stiffened. Someone powerful was approaching and the white-haired dragon knew that energy signature well! Shadow positioned himself into a defensive stance as Lyric approached.

"Well now, you're still as jumpy as always!" Lyric stated, as though he was greeting an old friend "but then, you have full right to be, seeing as how you don't have Shiar and that Egyptian Fire Dragon with you! You were never much good on your own, were you, little Liagren?" Shadow growled. Of all the people who knew he was a Liagren, Lyric and Lotus were the worst ones to know!

"Wow, nice comeback!" came a voice behind him. Somehow, Lotus had manoeuvred behind him and cut off his escape route. This was bad! On his own he may not have been as strong as they were, but he was definitely faster. However this meant nothing if he had nowhere to run to! He mentally scolded himself for being so lax. If he hadn't have been so caught up in thought, he'd have been able to detect the two ghost dragons much earlier!

"Okay Lyric, so what are you after this time?" Shadow asked, attempting to stall for time in the vain hope that Shiar and Adama would come looking for him.

"Vengeance on all dragons for what they did to us!" Lyric replied "And destruction of the world's population of ghosts! Same thing we usually want!"

"Again? Isn't that a little obsessive?" Shadow asked

"Why don't _you_ tell _us_?" Lyric said, evilly "Last I heard, you were getting fairly obsessed with destroying a fourteen year old boy!"

"I… uh… that's different!" Shadow was caught off by this remark. "The kid's part ghost!" Shadow was starting to lose his composure and the older ghost dragon knew it!

"Oh yeah, that's right! The 'ghost/dragon war'! The thing that caused all this trouble to begin with" Lyric scoffed. "But really now Shadsy, when was the last time you actually fought a ghost? Other than the Halfa I mean!"

"Uh…" Shadow really didn't know what to say to get himself out of this rapidly deepening hole.

"C'mon, it doesn't take a genius to guess not since he first heard the Halfa existed!" Lotus piped up

"Heh, I wonder why that is!" Lyric laughed "see, you're really not so different from us! Do you remember what I said last time we fought? It still stands. We could do so much more damage as a trio, and you wouldn't have to worry about hiding your Liagren status ever again!"

"Over my dead body!" Shadow growled, finally finding his voice. His defiance earned him one of Lyric's vicious energy attacks.

"That can be arranged!" Lyric stated, opening a pair of purple wings and flying full speed towards Shadow. Being the fastest one there, Shadow was able to avoid Lyric's attack, however he ended up flying straight into Lotus's! The younger ghost dragon's energy discharge slammed into him and sent him back the way he'd come from, only to land at Lyric's feet.

"See what happens when you stop training?" Lyric goaded "you _were_ a lot stronger than that! Bet you're barely a match for the Halfa right now!" Shadow responded with an energy attack of his own… which missed!

"What was _that?_!" Lyric exclaimed "Seriously, if that's your best attack, then we came along not a moment too soon!" Even Shadow realised he was fighting like a complete amateur. Lyric was taunting him using a subject that bothered him the most and he wasn't thinking properly! He could do much better than this, and he was determined to prove it! Mentally slapping his brain back into gear, Shadow opened his wings and launched an offensive assault on Lyric, this time landing several successful hits.

"Ha, now that's a bit more like it!" laughed the older ghost dragon, getting back up from the ground "Last chance to take advantage of my offer!" Shadow gave him the same confident smirk he'd given Danny when trying to taunt him into a fight.

"Lyric? You can stick your offer where the sun don't shine!" This remark was followed by more vicious attacks from the Liagren dragon. The two continued to trade blows, while Lotus stayed well out of the way. He knew better than to get involved with this particular battle.

Despite Shadow's re-discovered confidence, Lyric's swift counter attacks were giving him no chance to make an escape and he was once again starting to take more hits than he was giving out. Lyric dive bombed from above, slamming him into the ground and, as the tired dragon slowly pushed himself back up, he found himself looking into the younger ghost dragon's amber coloured eyes.

"You should've just agreed to join us!" Lotus stated sadly. The last thing Shadow remembered was a sharp knock to his head before finally giving up and falling into the welcoming darkness!

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Perona ran as fast as she could to where she now knew the dragons were hiding out. It wasn't important for Danny, Sam and Tucker to be there tonight! After all, once she'd made contact, it would be easy to set up a meeting time that was convenient for all of them. And it wasn't as though they could've stayed out all night… they would've gotten into big trouble with their parents! Perona's Aunt wasn't so strict about this, particularly as she knew what the Hyrren girl was doing, and how important it was, but she still wanted to get this sorted and get home as soon as possible.

It didn't take long to find the place Shadow had directed her to - a small decrepit looking house just outside of town. She had a little trouble getting to the door, what with the garden so neglected and overgrown, but dragons weren't known for their gardening skills. Having finally reached the door, Perona knocked a couple of times - just walking straight in without warning would probably have got her jumped - then opened the door slowly.

"HYRREN!" a young female voice yelled angrily. Perona had little time to comprehend this before, of course, she was jumped anyway. Luckily the young dragon who'd attacked her was pulled off by a thankfully familiar red-haired dragon with a slight Egyptian accent.

"Easy Novena, I know this one!" Adama assured the Albino, with what was unmistakably a slight tone of amusement in his voice. "Hi Roe! Need a hand by any chance?" he added holding his hand out to help Perona up.

"Thanks, Adama" She said, accepting his offer of help. "I haven't got a lot of time here so I'll get right to the point. Though, since _you're_ here, then obviously you know why I'm here!"

"Let me guess… Lyric and Lotus?" Adama replied bluntly. "Maybe you should come in!"

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Adama and Shiar both listened intently to what Perona had to say and showed very little surprise when she explained the part about allying with Danny and his friends.

"I can see where you're coming from here!" Adama said finally "I always figured it'd come to this! And let's face it, Lyric and Lotus will want to head to the Ghost Zone to hide out - if they haven't already - and the Halfa's knowledge of the Zone would definitely be useful to us."

"That's what I thought Shadow would say, but he doesn't want to know" Perona said sadly

"Shadow's changed a lot since he left England, Roe" Shiar stated "he's very wary now!"

"Wary? What of?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Adama replied "didn't you read the message board? Someone brought up the whole Liagren thing and it sent the UK dragon council into a frenzy. In the end they agreed to halt the investigations for the time being, seeing as he helped capture the ghost dragons the first time, but he's on a kind of probation, so to speak! He never told you?"

"No, he didn't" Perona said sadly. "But if he's on probation, surely he shouldn't have been allowed to leave England!"

"The dragon council of each country is all part of the same group." Shiar explained "What goes in one country, also goes for the others. Shadow's still free to go anywhere!"

"I see." Perona said trying to mull the ideas in her head.

"So where is ol' Shadow by the way?" Adama asked

"I don't know! After he let me know where you guys were, he just left! Is that a problem?"

"Hard to say! He comes and goes, never tells us where! Though it's safe to assume he's been trying to track the Halfa down!" Shiar stated

"However, if he doesn't return by tomorrow night we should go searching for him, but I should think he'd be back soon, he's not stupid!" Adama suggested. Just as he said this, the aforementioned Liagren walked in through the door.

"Hey Shadow! We were just talking about you!" Shiar said happily

"Oh yeah?" Shadow replied dully "I see you found it okay, Roe!"

"Of course, I was using the directions _you _gave me! Couldn't go wrong could I?" Perona replied, smiling at him. "Well, I'd better get home now. I'd love to hang around a bit longer but, it'll have to wait til tomorrow!"

"Roe…" Shadow started "It's already tomorrow!"

"WHAT?" Perona cried, looking at her watch. The digital display was showing 12:15am. "Whoops! See you tomorrow!" As she started to leave, she paused before she passed the Liagren dragon "Shadow, I have a favour to ask!"

"Fire away!" he replied

"Leave Danny alone. At least until we've sorted out this mess!" Perona asked, giving the old 'puppy dog eyes' routine "Please?" Shadow sighed

"I can't promise anything, but… I'll try!" he replied. Perona gave him a hug

"Thanks. From you, that's as good as a promise!" with that, Perona bolted out of the door. Shadow walked across the room and sat down on the sofa.

"So, what've you been up too huh?" Shiar asked sitting down on the other end.

"Not much, just… wandering!" Shadow replied

"On your own? With Lyric and Lotus literally on our doorstep?" Adama asked

"What are you? My Dad? I won't do it again!" the dragon replied irritably. He scratched an itch on the side of his head and yawned. "You made the decision on what Perona was asking I take it!"

"Yup!" Adama replied "I figured you'd be too biased to do this one yourself! Perona's bringing the Hal… I mean, Danny and his friends, here tomorrow evening to sort things out, and I think _you_ should be there too!"

"HEY! Why do _I _have join this little meeting!" Shadow cried in outrage.

"Well, you _are_ supposed to be the head dragon of Amity Park!" Adama pointed out "But so far I feel like _I_ am, and I don't even live here! Take some responsibility already!"

"OKAY, OKAY! I'll be there, but I don't have to like it!" Shadow replied.

"There's a good boy!" the Egyptian dragon teased, ruffling the younger dragon's hair.

"Don't patronize me!" Shadow growled.

"One more thing!" Adama suddenly piped up "If you've just been wandering around, how come you look like you've been in a fight?" Shadow gulped. This was going to be awkward!

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Back at Vlad's mansion, Lotus was busy picking up all the books - which had previously been scattered all over the place - and stacking them back into a neat pile in the corner of the room. Tidiness had never been his brother's forte and Lotus had deemed it his responsibility to make sure they could at least get from one side of the room to the other without having to climb over piles of tat, especially since, regardless of what Lyric proclaimed, it wasn't actually _their _house!

As he placed the last book neatly out of the way, Lyric burst into the room.

"I think I've got it, Lotus!" He cried excitedly, walking over to the books.

"Got what?" the younger ghost dragon asked, turning his attention to tidying up the energy stones arranged in pointless patterns on the floor.

"I think I know what released us! I can't be certain yet, but I'll need one of those books" Lyric said, searching the pile eagerly "Aw, where did you put it Lo?"

"Which one?" Lotus asked

"That blue one, with the black spine… Ah there it is!" Lyric picked up a book from the bottom of the pile. Consequently - and to Lotus's dismay - the rest of the pile toppled over and, once again, were scattered all over the room! Apparently oblivious to the demolition he'd just caused, Lyric flipped the book open and started reading. Lotus sighed, and once again started picking up books.

"By the way Lo, I just thought you'd better know that we're heading to the Ghost Zone soon" he added, not bothering to look up from his reading.

"WHAT?" Lotus cried, dropping the book he'd just picked up.

"Well, it's the easiest way to pick up ghost lackeys!" Lyric said, closing the book up and turning to leave the room. As he got to the door, he hesitated. "And Lotus? How about you start doing a little tidying up huh? The place is beginning to look like a pig sty!" With that he walked out of the room, leaving Lotus on his own again. After a short time of attempting to work out the fairness of this, the younger ghost dragon gave up and went back to picking up books.

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Lyric took the book into the basement where Vlad's ghost portal was situated. The ghost dragon had been jumping into the Ghost Zone occasionally, attempting to locate anything that might help him work out what higher power was responsible for their unexpectedly easy release. Most of the spirits from the Zone remembered him from the last time he'd been there and had steered clear. This, added with the fact that he had his own personal tour guide - in the form of Ember McLean - meant that searching the Ghost Zone had been a breeze! Ember was now standing next to the ghost portal, obediently awaiting her next orders from Lyric.

"I was right!" Lyric stated. Ember just stared back blankly. The only problem with using the stones was that they robbed their wearer of free will.

"Right about what?" Vlad asked coming into the room. After the threat the other day he'd tried to steer clear of the ghost dragons whenever possible, but curiosity had got the better of him.

"Oh, nothing that concerns you, Vlad!" Lyric replied "in fact, we'll be out of your way entirely, in a day or two!"

"What?"

"Yep, you won't have to play host to us for much longer! Ain't that great?"

"But what about our deal!"

"You and that stupid deal again!" Lyric sighed "I already explained about that! Your personal grudges are irrelevant to us!" The look Lyric gave Vlad indicated that he was once again pushing his luck, but Vlad continued regardless. He had an idea that might make the ghost dragon change his mind.

"But what if I told you that Jack Fenton's son is also a half ghost!" Vlad stated. That seemed to catch Lyric's attention.

"You don't say!" Lyric replied. "Well, that explains why you want _him_ so much! Let me guess, you want me to use one of my little energy stones to turn him into a drone for you?"

"Well, I'd rather he came to join me willingly, unfortunately the boy seems to have reservations about me killing his father!" Vlad said this so seriously that Lyric had to suppress a laugh. This guy really was willing to do _anything_ in order to get what he wanted.

"As luck would have it, I already have someone posted to keep an eye on the famous Danny Phantom!"

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 6:**

**- Vlad's ghost portal: **At this point I'd like to point out that, when I started writing this story, Nicktoons had only shown up to the episode '13'. Therefore - in this story - the events of 'Million Dollar Ghost' had not yet taken place.

**- What happens when Moonbay and Electricfox have had too much sugar: **Not so much a chapter note, but really just a bit of fun. When I was writing the last line of this chapter, Electricfox intervened and it all got a little bit silly! Here's how the last line read before I stopped laughing long enough to correct it - _"As luck would have it, I already have someone posted to keep an eye on your fudge buckets and butter biscuits!" Then the portal exploded_ - Needless to say, this was inspired by 'Million Dollar Ghost'

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Chapter 6 is over… it's official, get the party poppers! Well, let's face it, this chapter almost didn't get up at all! What with mycomputercontinuously crashing on me and then having problems with uploading... Still, nevermind it's up now!

See ya at Chapter 7!


	7. Chap7 Meeting at Perona's Place

-1Wooooo! Chapter 7!

Due to recent conversations with my parents, I've officially decided to cut down on my Pepsi intake. I'm now drinking OJ instead… and I don't like OJ very much!

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**Disclaimer**

I don't own Danny Phantom, nor do I gain any kind of monetary profit from this Fanfic! I just enjoy writing it!

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 7**

**Meeting at Perona's place.**

Just as Danny expected, he was kept in after school due to not having finished his homework in time. He'd been hoping to find out if Perona had been able to get in touch with the dragons, but she hadn't even shown up at school that morning. Sam had said she was going to send her an e-mail after school, but this didn't change the fact that Danny still had to wait extra time before he could find out if Perona was okay. Unfortunately he couldn't really use the excuse that he hadn't finished his homework because he'd been chasing rogue dragons and ghosts all over the place! Not unless he was willing to reveal he was part ghost anyway!

When he was finally allowed to leave, it was to find a young girl sitting on the steps by the entrance of the school. She had creamy-white hair that was topped with a silver hair band and a couple of smaller silver bands on two strands of hair that fell either side of her face. The girl looked up as Danny approached, and he noticed that her eyes were a pinky-red colour. This added with the paleness of her skin indicated to the Halfa that the girl was albino. She couldn't have been more than twelve.

"Are you Danny Fenton?" the girl asked. Danny nodded in reply. "I have a message from Perona!"

"Is she okay?" the Halfa asked "Only she didn't come to school today!"

"She's fine. She said to tell you… uh… hang on a sec!" The albino girl pulled a note out of her pocket "Sorry, I have a memory like a sieve! Luckily Roe wrote it all down! Right, she said she's sorry for not being in school today, but she didn't get home until sometime early this morning. She asks if it's possible for you to come to her house at about seven-ish tonight to meet the other dragons. There's also an invite for Sam and Tucker!" The girl handed Danny the note "Roe's address is on there!"

"Thanks" Danny replied

"Right, now that's my job done! I'm gonna go home and change!" the girl stated, cheerfully "Trust me, you don't realise just how uncomfortable tucking your tail into your jeans is! Roe said to wear a skirt, why didn't I listen to her?" With that she waved goodbye and skipped off happily. There was now no doubt in Danny's mind that this girl was a dragon, and a scatty one at that. But, it made a nice change from being attacked by them. Now starting to feel a little less nervous about meeting a pack of dragons, Danny rushed off home.

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At just before twenty to seven, Adama, Shadow and Shiar had arrived at Perona's house. Echo and Novena had been there all afternoon, catching up on old times - well, Echo was anyway. The night before had been the first time Perona and Novena had ever met!

After Adama had pointed out that Shadow looked far too beaten up to have simply been wandering around, Shadow had explained that he had got into a fight with a ghost on the way. Since Shadow _had_ agreed to come to this meeting, Adama hadn't pushed for anymore information, but he was suspicious. For one thing, Shiar had told Adama that Shadow hadn't so much as looked at a ghost let alone fought one since he'd first arrived in Amity Park - well, except for Danny anyway. And for another, it had to be one heck of a ghost that could do that sort of damage to the Liagren. The Egyptian dragon had looked out for Shadow ever since they'd first met, back when Lyric and Lotus had first made an attempt to take over the dragon species. Shadow had only been ten then (and kind of a wuss). Now, at the age of fourteen - fast approaching fifteen, in fact - Shadow was now one of the better fighters, but Adama still felt it was his responsibility to make sure the second youngest of the Amity Park dragons kept his mind on his duties as pack leader, no matter how much Shadow protested. Maybe it was the five year age gap between them!

Most of their journey to Perona's had gone in silence, mainly because they'd been too busy trying to keep an eye out for any sneak attacks. There was little chance of Lyric and Lotus attacking the three of them together, but it didn't hurt to be on alert.

Now they were just awaiting the arrival of Danny and his friends. Novena, Shiar, Adama and Perona were playing a dragon card game. Unfortunately, Perona - being unfamiliar with the rules of the game - was losing… badly! Novena was trying to teach Perona how to play, but it didn't help that the game was supposed to be played in Draconian - the dragon's main language - and whilst Perona's heritage allowed her to understand most of it, her pronunciation was terrible!

Echo was helping Lizzie - Perona's Aunt - to tidy up, and consistently marvelled at how laid back the woman was about having a pack of unruly reptiles invading her living room.

Shadow was definitely _not _happy to be cooped up in this strange house that smelt strongly of humans - to the dragon sense of smell anyway. He was curled up on the sofa reading a random magazine he'd picked up, his tail swishing occasionally.

Eventually Novena and Perona broke off from the game to try something else, leaving the two male dragons hurling Draconian insults at each other. It was times like this that Perona was glad her Aunt Lizzie couldn't understand a word of the dragon language.

At almost seven o clock there was a knock at the door. Perona answered it just as Adama won the card game and Shiar called him a rather rude Draconian name… or rather yelled it! Perona was so shocked that it took her a few moments to remember that Danny, Sam and Tucker were waiting on the doorstep.

"Sounds like quite a party going on in there!" Sam stated.

"Heh, just be glad you can't actually understand what that meant!" Perona laughed "and don't ask me to translate because I won't!" This was followed by a crash "Come in anyway… if you dare!" She added sheepishly

The living room was a little bit of a mess! There were playing cards strewn all over the floor and the crashing sound had been caused by the sofa tipping over backwards. This had happened because Adama had been standing on it, taunting Shiar and when the green dragon had leapt at him, the momentum had pushed it over. Adama, Shiar and Shadow had all fallen over with it!

"Welcome to the mad house!" Novena said happily.

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"What were you guys doing?" Tucker asked, after the sofa had been put right way up again "playing fifty-two card pick-up?"

"Well, it started off as 'Ha-Kanna'" Shiar stated, picking up the cards. "Old dragon game!" he added when Tucker gave him a confused look. "Then it kinda got a little out of hand!"

"Just a little, huh?" Tucker chuckled as he started picking up the fallen cards closest to him. Whilst this whole clean up operation was going on, Perona started with the introductions.

"I believe you've already met Shiar and Novena" She said. On the mention of her name, Novena smiled and waved. After seeing her with her tail hidden, it seemed strange to Danny to see her with one now, with its little leaf shaped end. He did feel a little guilty though. According to Sam and Tucker, Novena had been waiting outside when school had ended. Thanks to Danny having to be kept in, the albino had been waiting out there for some time. Perona continued with the introductions.

"This is Echo." She said, indicating the girl with the navy blue hair and the arrow shaped tail. "She's Shiar's sister! They're twins!"

"She just means we hatched at the same time, and we both have the same tail end" Echo explained.

"And the red-head over there is Adama. He's from Egypt!" Perona paused for a second "And I guess that guy over there in the corner needs no introduction!" Shadow was now sat in the corner with his tail curled round him, glaring at Danny. Needless to say the Halfa didn't feel too comfortable about that. He'd been hoping that Shadow wasn't going to be at the meeting! "My Aunt Lizzie's around here somewhere too! I think she's hiding in the kitchen!"

"She's probably better off there for the time being" Adama stated "We'll vacate when we're done here, so we'd better get started, if only for the sake of Lizzie's furniture!"

Without further ado, Adama started explaining the situation with Lyric and Lotus and what had happened in the Sahara.

"Wait, a ghost freed them? Somehow the description sounds familiar!" Danny said when Adama had finished. The ghost-boy was silent for a minute whilst he mulled over the information. Then it hit him "_Plasmius_!" Danny growled, his eyes glowing green momentarily as his hatred for the older Halfa kicked in.

"I'm going to assume that means you know this ghost." Adama concluded.

"You could say that!" Sam replied

"He's my Arch Enemy!" Danny explained "He's also a half ghost!" Strangely, the dragons all seemed surprised by this. Even Shadow had looked up at the mention of another half ghost.

"Really?" Shiar asked "There are more of you hybrids around? We thought you were the only one!"

"He's the only other one we know of!" Tucker said "His name's Vlad Masters, but he likes to call himself Plasmius!"

"Releasing Lyric and Lotus sounds like the kind of thing he'd do!" Danny added

"But he _didn't_!" Shadow exclaimed, apparently unable to continue sitting in the corner ignoring everyone. "There's no ghost on Earth - even a half-ghost - that could break down the elders' barrier!"

"Don't underestimate Vlad!" Danny retorted "If there's one thing I do know, it's that he'll go to any lengths to get what he wants. It's possible he could even find a way around your so-called invincible barrier if there was something in it for him!" Shadow narrowed his eyes. Apparently he didn't seem to like Danny talking back to him like that. The dragon was about to argue back, but Perona, sensing impending further destruction of the household appliances, clamped her hand over his mouth.

"Hush, Shadow! Aunt Lizzie wants help with the washing up!" With that she proceeded to drag him towards the kitchen.

"She's scary! " Shiar shuddered when both Perona and Shadow had disappeared into the kitchen. Danny breathed a sigh of relief. Despite all the assurances that he wouldn't be attacked now, it was hard to feel comfortable with a vicious dragon glaring at him the whole time.

"Ah, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring him!" Adama stated "He _really_ doesn't like you, does he Danny?"

"Can't think why! I've never done anything to him!" Danny stated

"Um… well… it's complicated!" Adama replied "But we've really got more important matters right now!"

"But why do you need us?" Tucker asked, voicing a thought that had been bothering all three of them since they'd first got there.

"It's not that we don't wanna help" Sam added, hastily "it's just that we can't really see where we fit into all this!"

"Perona tells me you all hunt ghosts!" Adama explained "and considering we're going up against a couple of ghost dragons then it all helps!"

"Plus, we're hoping you know more than us about the Ghost Zone!" Shiar added "And since what we know about it would fit on a really small postage stamp, that's probably an accurate assumption!"

"Actually, it's my parents that are the ghost hunters" Danny corrected "We just steal their equipment!" Adama laughed at this comment.

"Well, that'll still definitely help us!" he said "but, the first thing we're going to have to do is to work out where the two ghost dragons are!"

"That part's easy! They'd be with Vlad, right?" Sam asked "after all, he had to have a reason for releasing them!"

"OH MY GOD!" Danny yelled suddenly, making everyone else jump in the process "DAD!"

"Oo-kay, so what's your dad got to do with any of this?" Shiar asked, cocking his head slightly to one side in confusion.

"He's the whole reason we're enemies with Vlad in the first place! Vlad wants to use Lyric and Lotus to kill Dad!" Danny explained, starting to get slightly panicky

"That seems a bit trivial for those two to agree to!" Shiar pointed out "I don't think you'll have anything to worry about!"

"Shiar's got a point, after all, Lotus answers to Lyric and Lyric answers to no-one but himself!" Adama stated

"Although, the four of us have been keeping an eye on the Fenton Works for some time, Adama!" Shiar explained

"You have?" Danny and Adama asked at the same time

"Yeah, well, isn't it Dragon policy to keep a check on all known ghost hunters to make sure they don't get in the way? As soon as we heard the Fenton's were ghost hunters, we got a watch system set up." Shiar said "Danny? You must be even better than us at keeping secrets, because we had no clue the son of the Fenton's was the Halfa!"

"Really?" Danny asked, somewhat surprised. Shiar sounded impressed by this and the Halfa had a distinct feeling that impressing a dragon was a difficult thing to do. Also, it felt good to be receiving praise from someone who was supposed to be your enemy.

"Heck, if we'd have known, Shadow would've hightailed it over to your place ages ago!" Novena pointed out cheerfully.

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The meeting at Perona's disbanded at about quarter to eight, with the advice to stay vigilant for the time being and to avoid engaging in combat with the ghost dragons if possible.

Shadow had not reappeared to the meeting. Apparently Perona hadn't deemed it safe for the Liagren and the Halfa to be in the same room and had sent Shadow home before her Aunt's house became an insurance case.

Adama had offered to accompany Danny, Sam and Tucker on their walk home, intending to check out the location of Danny's house. Having never even visited Amity Park until just recently, he was curious to see what he was supposed to be keeping an eye on!

Danny didn't have a problem with this. Adama seemed to be a nice guy. It was certainly obvious that this dragon didn't have a problem with working with a half-ghost.

After Sam and Tucker had separated from the group to their respective houses, Danny and Adama continued on to the Fenton Works.

"Danny?" Adama asked suddenly "I will admit, I didn't really come along just to see your house!"

"Well, I did think it was strange for you to want to come along just to see that!" Danny replied "but I've never hung around with a real live dragon before!"

"Heh, you'll get used to it!" Adama chuckled "But what I really came along for is because I want to talk to you some more about what's going on. Basically I believe Shadow was right when he said that the half ghost, Vlad wasn't responsible for the ghost dragons' release!"

"Then, why didn't you say so earlier when we were at Perona's?"

"Spies, Danny! I'm pretty sure one of our dragons has been 'corrupted' so to speak, and I think you and me both know which one. I'm reluctant to talk about this in front of the others in case word gets to Shadow. If that were to happen, then Lyric and Lotus would know exactly what we are doing!"

"But why just me?" Danny asked, confused "after all, Sam and Tucker are my friends, they wouldn't tell him anything if I asked them not to!"

"I'm not questioning your friends loyalties, Danny. It's just that, Perona hangs out with you three now, and she's pretty nifty at picking up info… even if her psychic power _does_ only work on information people _want_ her to know about! No, I'm not saying Roe would intentionally give info to the enemy either!" Adama added, noticing the look the Halfa was currently giving him "but she's very protective of him. Shadow can do no wrong as far as she's concerned. It's a devotion that I don't think he fully appreciates!"

"Adama? Would it have something to do with Shadow being a Liagren?" Danny asked. Adama was so taken aback by this question that he stopped dead.

"Now, where does a fourteen year old kid like you learn a forbidden dragon word like that?" Adama paused, apparently considering whether or not to answer Danny's question. "Yes" he said finally "Shadow is a Liagren! And if you know the word, you've probably already found out that being one is illegal… not that someone really has a choice about it!"

"When Roe asked Shadow to help, he didn't want to know. Said he didn't need help from a Halfa!" Danny explained. "Roe more or less called him a hypocrite!"

"Oh? And what does that tell you?" Adama asked, curious to see if the boy could join the dots on his own.

"That he's part ghost?" Danny asked in reply.

"You're thinking along the right lines but you've got a slightly wrong outcome. Shadow's part human - on his mother's side in case you were wondering" Adama explained. "Unfortunately, whilst Hyrren/human hybrids like Perona are allowed by Hyrren rules, the dragon communities frown upon mixed-species relations. Shadow's jealous of you being a hybrid because nobody's trying to kill you for it!"

"I wouldn't say that! For one thing, I don't think you'll find any ghost that doesn't want to kill me!" Danny pointed out.

"True, true! But the difference is that you chose to oppose them, whereas if you chose to side _with_ them it would be a different story" Adama replied "and that, my friend is what keeps you out of the war!"

"Shadow wants to kill me for being a Halfa!"

"I don't think he wants to kill you! Just defeat you! Then, I think, he believes he's proved his worth… if _only_ to himself!" Adama theorised "At least, that's what I believe his original goal was… But how are Lyric and Lotus controlling him, that's what I'd like to know!"

"Those stones?" Danny suggested

"I don't think so." Adama countered "The stones take away free will. Remember the brown dragon? No, there's something else going on here!" Danny hesitated, trying to find the best way to word his next question.

"Is it possible Shadow just decided to join Lyric and Lotus on his own? I mean, he certainly has a case for it!" he said, finally. Adama looked at him as though he'd just suggested that cats bark or something.

"That's impossible Danny! There's no way… I mean, I don't think he'd do that…" Adama thought for a minute. "No, I'm certain Shadow wouldn't do that!" The way the Egyptian dragon was saying this, indicated to Danny that he wasn't actually entirely certain himself. "Anyway" Adama continued, composing himself "What I was originally going to ask you was, could I borrow your portal, and take a quick jump into the Ghost Zone?"

"What? Why?" Danny asked suddenly

"Curiosity mainly." Adama explained "I have a theory I'd like to check out! I'll explain more on the way, it's just that I'd rather do this sooner rather that later."

"Wait, how do I know you're not leading me into a trap? How do I know _you're_ not the one working for Lyric and Lotus?" Danny asked, suspicion suddenly rearing up.

"You don't." Adama pointed out "The decision of whether you trust me or not is yours to make. Just help me get to the portal, and if you still don't trust me, you can leave me to go it alone!" Danny considered this.

"Okay, I'll bite." he said, eventually "but that doesn't mean I'll be letting my guard down."

"I wouldn't have expected otherwise!" Adama stated!

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 7:**

**- The Albino Dragon: **Novena was an on-the-spot creation, designed specifically as Echo's tag team partner at the beginning of the story. However that was back when I planned to have lots of dragons in Amity Park. However I've long since concluded that putting in too many new characters would be confusing (to me!). Therefore Novena's getting a better role.

**- Perona's scary: **In a previous end of chapter note, I pointed out that Shadow and Perona were like Kyo and Kagura, Unfortunately, it's occurred to me that up til this point, Perona hasn't actually been acting how I want her to so, hopefully, I've got her personally better sorted from hereon in!

**- "and now I'm leaving Earth for no rason!":** Does anyone remember this quote from Futurama? The reason I'm bringing this up is because when I was typing the line "He's the whole reason we're enemies with Vlad in the first place!" I accidentally dropped the 'e' in reason, and I couldn't help but remember that first Brain Spawn episode!

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Well, that's chapter 7 finished!

I'm sorry it took so long, but between, work, Zoid building, and Microsoft Windows repeatedly corrupting itself, I haven't had much time of late!

See ya at chapter 8


	8. Chap8 The Watcher

-1I DID IT! I made it to Chapter 8! Yay for me!

And I finally got a new computer! It's about time too! I was sick of that manufacturer messing me about and repeated failing to repair the same fault on a computer that was still under warranty! They actually TOLD us that all they were going to do was repeatedly replace the hard drive until the warranty ran out, despite KNOWING that the fault wasn't with the hard drive at all! My new computer's from a completely different manufacturer!

Anyway, enough of my rambling…

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**Standard Legal stuff!**

I don't own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does, but if you've managed to stick with my story THIS far, you should know that by now!

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 8**

**The Watcher**

Somewhere in the middle of the Ghost Zone, a mysterious blue-haired man was keeping watch on the events unfolding in Amity Park. This spirit-like being belonged neither to any particular Time Zone, nor to any particular dimension, but instead chose to switch between them whenever he felt like a change.

Right now however, he was enjoying the ruckus being caused in this world by the two ghost dragons! His kind was not supposed to get involved with the lives of the mortal beings, just watch and make sure everything ran as the fates decided, but every once in a while the Watcher, known by his fellow Watchers as the Child of the Storm or 'Thunderchild', got bored with merely observing and liked to jump in and have a bit of fun.

The most exciting thing was that now, both the ghost dragon Lyric and the Egyptian fire dragon Adama had reached the same conclusion. Thunderchild's long blue tail twitched excitedly as he pondered the next question: who would make it to his current position first?

Of course he could find out sooner, using his powers. But that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it?

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After Danny had announced his return to his parents, he went straight up to his room, opened the window to allow Adama to get in and phased the both of them down to the lab.

"So this is your ghost portal?" Adama asked, looking up at the large circular device embedded in the wall. "It was a good idea to have that gate built across the entrance! Stops any unwanted visits, huh?"

"That was the general idea, but they still manage to come through somehow!" Danny replied, putting his thumb up against the DNA scanner. The gate separated down the middle and the two sides slid open, revealing the swirling green and purple mass that was the entrance to the Ghost Zone.

"Swirly!" Adama stated simply, but at the same time impressed.

"Haven't you ever seen a ghost portal before?" Danny asked

"No… you sound surprised!"

"Well, it's just that you dragons seemed to know everything!"

"Heh, never assume things! No-body knows _everything_! Well, save for the person we're possibly going to see today!" Adama explained, opening his wings, which the same fiery red colour as his hair and tail, with deep blue undersides.

"So, what, exactly, are we doing?" Danny asked, following Adama as he jumped into the portal.

"Y'know, I told you I believed a higher power released Lyric and Lotus? Somewhere in a book I read once explains about a type of ghost that is literally omnipotent! Though there's no way of telling how accurate that description is… it was a _really_ old book! 'course, that copy's long gone now… most of it anyway" Adama gave Danny a crafty wink, pulling out a couple of tatty, aged pages. "Omnipotence was always an interest of mine when I was a kid, and the book was a forbidden volume, so when I was told I had to burn it, I took out the pages I wanted to keep and roasted the rest of it! I kept meaning to throw them away in recent years, but every time I looked at them I got nostalgic and couldn't do it! All I can say is, thank goodness for that!"

"Heh heh, it's a good thing even dragon kids have dreams of being Super Heroes!" Danny laughed. He took the pages from Adama and looked at them. The pages were yellow and dog-eared with age and ripped slightly in places, with a big line across the middle where they'd been folded in half. The writing was foreign, like the writing on the dragon's website so, ultimately, Danny couldn't understand a word of it! One thing he could understand though, was a slightly faded picture on the second page. "Wait, I know this place!"

"You do? Then that's one heck of a time saver because that's where we are headed!" Adama stated

"But when I went there it was nothing but a barren wasteland!" Danny exclaimed

"That's actually what the writing on those pages states, but apparently, most sightings of these omnipotent spirits happened in that very spot! Even the ghosts who we've managed to get to talk describe that area as a 'special' area. Stands to reason that's where we should start!" Danny agreed with this… he really didn't have any ideas of anything else to do, particularly as he still didn't really know what he was looking for!

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It took the dragon and the half-ghost longer than first thought to reach the place they were headed to. It was a very secluded area quite deep in the Ghost Zone and, as Danny had said, completely deserted!

Adama landed on the large flat rock floating - as all ghost abodes did - in mid air.

"Well, here we are!" Danny stated "Now what do we do?"

"Uh… Your guess is as good as mine!" Adama shrugged "This could take a while so, if you want to go back home I'll stay here a little while longer and see if anything happens!" Danny considered this option. It was starting to get late, and he was just about to say bye to Adama when a glow appeared on the other side of the rock, catching the attention of the dragon and the half-ghost.

"Uh, is that a common occurrence here?" Adama asked

"Hard to say!" Danny replied "You can never tell in this place!" Adama took a few steps forward to get a better look, his tail swinging from side to side and reminding Danny somewhat of a curious puppy…with three blades on the end of it's tail!

A few seconds later the glow disappeared to be replaced by what appeared to be a large mechanical suit.

"Skulker?" the Halfa asked in disbelief. In all the times he'd fought this ghost, he'd never once seen him make an appearance like that. Likewise, Skulker himself seemed bewildered.

"I beg your pardon?" Adama asked

"Skulker!" Danny repeated "The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!"

"Really!" Adama replied

"What am I doing here? One minute I'm relentlessly hunting down my latest prey and then I end up here!" Skulker stated, apparently to himself. Then he spotted the half-ghost and the dragon, a evil grin spread across his metallic face. "Never mind, I've just found _better_ prey!" The ghost leapt towards Adama and Danny, his sudden change of venue forgotten for the moment. Adama and Danny jumped out of the way, but Skulker reacted quickly, firing an electromagnetic net out of the arm of his exoskeleton battle suit and catching Danny in it.

"Well, the hunt for you has been long and arduous, Ghost Child!" Skulker announced in his cool deep voice "But now it's time for you to take your place in my trophy room…" Skulker stopped when he noticed Danny smirking at him "What are you smiling at?" He heard a low growl and suddenly found himself shrouded in shadow. He turned round slowly and looked into the glowing amber eyes of Adama's dragon form. "A dragon? In the Ghost Zone? Dragons NEVER come into the Ghost Zone!"

"Really?" Danny asked "because I think _he'll _tell you otherwise!" Adama roared loudly, showing off a large reptilian mouth full of sharp serrated teeth. This impressive display of vocal ability was quickly followed up by a blast of super-hot flame. Skulker parried the attack, but in the process the net was severed from the ghostly hunter, allowing Danny to escape. Adama turned his back on Skulker and swung his flame tipped tail into him. Danny also let loose with his own ecto blast attacks.

The hunter recovered quickly from the dual attacks. He held out his right arm and several guns opened up, trained in on Danny and Adama.

Before Skulker could fire, however, music started playing. It sounded like the ring tone version of the Lone Ranger theme. Skulker looked at a panel on his wrist.

"Go to the Zoo and make sketches of Purple-Back Gorilla?" he questioned, reading the reminder that had shown up on the panel "Curse you! I thought I'd FINALLY got rid of that stupid problem!" Then - totally out of Skulker's control - a pair of wings opened up from his suit.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, WHELP!" Skulker yelled, as his jetpack powered him away at high speed, and out of sight.

Adama looked confused to say the least, which was quite an amusing expression to see on a giant reptile's face.

"It's a long story" Danny stated, when Adama looking enquiringly at him "But to summarise, Skulker attached one of Tucker's PDA's to that suit of his a while ago. At the same time, Tucker had been helping me to manage my time better and had a schedule going to help me complete a school report on the Purple-Back Gorilla. Skulker's suit is now tied to that schedule and any other reminders that Tucker beams across from his other PDA. But, since Tucker isn't here, I can't quite work out why that just happened!"

"Well, however it happened, maybe should be glad it did! It means we don't have to worry about fighting him!" Adama stated.

"Good point!" Danny agreed "I'd better get back anyway, before somebody realises I'm not in my room."

"I'll come with you. After Skulker attacking like that, I really don't think anything is going to show up if I wait here now!" Adama said, flexing his wings.

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Thunderchild was literally laughing his head off! As soon as he was sure Adama and Danny had left, he'd teleported back to the deserted rock. The idea to stick Skulker into the works had suddenly come to him, and it was all too tempting an idea to pass up! It had been great fun to watch, and, of course, he just couldn't resist activating the Purple-Back Gorilla routine!

If the rest of his species ever found out about it, he'd be in big trouble, but he really wanted to see how well a dragon and a half ghost could fight together.

Then, he sensed something behind him, but he'd been expecting this.

"Hi there, Lyric!" Thunderchild said, turning round to face the ghost/dragon hybrid who'd just landed behind him.

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Jazz was on her way down to the lab. She was looking for Danny, but he wasn't in his room where he'd said he was going to be. To be honest, this didn't surprise her in the least. Jazz had actually found out about him being half ghost a while back, though she'd never told him. She didn't know how he got his abilities or how long he had them for, but she'd decided against barging straight in and bombarding him with questions. She wanted to wait until her little brother was ready to tell her himself.

Jazz was a little curious though. It hadn't been long ago when Danny had started talking about dragons, then, a couple of days later, a report comes on T.V. about dragons attacking Amity Park. Of course her ghost-crazy parents had insisted the dragons were ghosts and had spent every possible second they could staking out

the area where they'd been seen.

The short amount of time between when Danny had first mentioned dragons, and when the attack had actually occurred seemed, to Jazz, to be a big coincidence and she was beginning to get a little suspicious. Against her better judgement, she decided to see if she could get a little information from Danny, whilst at the same time, not letting on that she knew his secret or make him think she was accusing him of anything. It was a difficult task, but Jazz was absolutely positive she could do it!

Unfortunately for her, she never got a chance to test her theory out.

At the sound of her brother's voice, she stopped at the top of the stairs.

"I'm sorry you couldn't find what you were looking for!" Danny said, talking to somebody, but from Jazz's current vantage point, she could only see Danny in his ghost mode. "Maybe we should try searching for that ghost again tomorrow or something"

"Yeah" came a voice - laced with an Egyptian accent - that Jazz had never heard before "but the problem is, we could end up returning there every day for 50 years and still never find anything!" There was something rough about this new voice, like it belonged to a creature who's voice box wasn't primarily designed for talking. Curiosity got the better of Jazz and she lent forward to get a better look at who Danny was talking to. She was only just able to hold back a gasp when she saw something that, by all normal standards, shouldn't exist… a large red dragon with a flame tipped tail and a big pair of leathery wings.

"So, what do you plan to do next?" Danny asked. Jazz moved back again, out of sight but not out of hearing range.

"I don't know!" the dragon replied "I suppose the obvious thing is to keep an eye on our resident spy! Try to get him to lead us to the ghost dragons, and try to take them on."

"You're going to try facing them directly?" Danny asked

"Until we can come up with a better plan, that's all we have!" the dragon replied "and if we can't get Shadow back on our side, we're going to need a stand in. Somebody who matches Shadow in ability and determination. Interested?" There was silence. Jazz moved forward again to see why Danny wasn't saying anything. To say the half ghost looked surprised was an understatement!

"If you don't want to, that's okay" the dragon continued "we're not going to force you to do it. I just thought I'd give you the choice"

"No, it's not that" Danny replied "it's just that… you think I'm a match for a dragon?"

"Definitely! I mean, you don't have Shadow's arrogant pride, but that's a _good_ thing!" the dragon said "however, in fighting ability, you're pretty darn good!"

"Wow, cool!" Danny replied, excitedly "but, we'd better get you outta here, before my sister or parents come down here. It wouldn't look too good if they found a dragon in the lab!" As Jazz watched, Danny floated onto the dragon's back, and, as the dragon ran towards the wall he phased the both of them through it.

When she was sure they'd definitely gone, Jazz stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs, trying to get her mind around what was going on. To find out her brother was part ghost was one thing, to find out that dragons really did exist was quite another! And to find out her half ghost brother was _in league_ with these dragons… well that just bordered on insanity!

And what's more, that red dragon matched eyewitness accounts of a red dragon with a flame tail that attacked the park and this same dragon wanted Danny to get involved in something potentially dangerous! It was time for Jazz to do her part as an overprotective sister, and keep her little brother out of harms way. Now thoroughly determined, Jazz started to head back up the stairs again, but halted partway up as a sudden thought hit her… What the heck was she supposed to use to fight a pack of DRAGONS?

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Adama left the Fenton Works feeling happier. He may not have found what he was looking for, but it had been worth it just for the experience of being the first dragon ever to visit the Ghost Zone!

He'd transformed back to his humanoid form to avoid suspicion, though, the three bladed tail of his humanoid form still stood out like a sore thumb… thankfully it was quite dark out now and it was times like this that the Egyptian dragon was glad that his bright tail flame was _only_ on his dragon form!

Adama looked up at the dark star-filled sky. It really was a day for firsts! First dragon in the Ghost Zone! First time a dragon and a ghost - okay, _half_ ghost - had ever fought together, completely on the same side, with no hostilities between them… and the first time he'd ever seen that dragon which was currently crawling along the rooftops!

Adama checked nobody was looking then transformed back into his dragon form and flew up to the roof. The dragon was white, with a long thin body, long neck and long tail. It had a pair of white and tan wings, with two pairs of white and tan fins further down it's back and a dark blue line of interlocked armour plating stretching from just above it's eyes right the way along its back and ending in two sharp blades pointing out from a diamond-shaped end. This was all topped of with a pair of backwards facing tan horns and a light blue fin on its head, bat-wing like ears, turquoise claws and two long thick pieces of wing membrane that protruded from under the shoulder armour and swayed gently in the breeze.

"I don't believe we've ever met before!" he growled at the unknown dragon "Identify yourself and your reasons for being in Amity Park!" The dragon twitched its bat-wing ears at the sound of Adama talking to it but remained silent. Adama looked for a stone on the white dragon which could explain its obscure behaviour, but could see nothing. "I'll ask you again, who are you and what are you doing here?" Adama asked, trying again "This isn't your territory!" The white dragon looked Adama straight in the eye.

"I don't believe this is your territory either!" he - and the voice was definitely male - growled evilly. Adama hesitated. He was shocked at the strange dragon's insolence, though not as much as he was about the fact that this new dragon knew he wasn't actually an Amity Park resident. But then, there was something very familiar about this dragon, though Adama was _certain_ he'd never seen him before!

"I'm a friend of the Amity Park group and I'm looking out for them! Now get out of here before I _make_ you!" Adama retorted, baring his teeth and swishing his tail threateningly. The fact that the white dragon was actually smaller than Adama, all added to the Egyptian dragon's domineering approach.

However, the white dragon didn't seem at all scared. In fact, he curled his tail up over his back, like a scorpion's, pointing his double blades at Adama. The whole stance was very formidable for a such a small dragon.

"Looks like you'll have to make me!" he growled.

Fast as lightning, Adama leapt at the white dragon, front claws bared. This was a big mistake, made only because Adama had never fought against his opponent's style of attack before. A split second after the fire dragon had initiated his attack, the white dragon fired his bladed tail towards him. Adama's reflexes kicked in just in time and he twisted slightly. The blade missed Adama's chest, where it had been aimed at, and instead sliced into his shoulder. He managed to bite back a roar of pain. Roaring loudly, whilst so close to human civilisation, would attract unwanted attention. Still, it didn't change the fact that it hurt like heck! Adama struggled to keep his balance on the slanted roof, whilst not taking his eye off of the white dragon. However, one of the roof tiles slipped under his left front foot and, whilst attempting to regain his balance using his injured right leg, he briefly broke his concentration. The white dragon saw his chance and struck Adama in the side of the head with his claws. Adama lost his balance completely and fell off the roof, hitting the ground with a thump.

The white dragon smirked and made his way to the edge of the roof to see what had become of his opponent.

Adama was sprawled out on the pavement. The impact had caused him to revert back to his humanoid form. Seeing him lying like that on the cold hard paving sent a pang of guilt through the white dragon and he leapt off the roof to the ground.

Adama opened his eyes and looked up at the white reptile face peering down at him.

"Who are you?" Adama asked weakly. Was it just him or did this dragon, who'd just smacked him off the roof, actually looked concerned?

"I'm really sorry Adama!" The dragon replied, regret evident in his voice. Then, to Adama's surprise, he transformed into his humanoid form.

"Shadow!" Adama cried, in complete shock. This wasn't possible! Shadow didn't have a dragon form! Adama had always assumed his DNA didn't allow it! He didn't have much time to comprehend this as everything went dark and he lost his battle for consciousness.

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**Moonbay's end of chapter notes - CHAPTER 8:**

**- Thunderchild the Watcher: **Thunderchild is the sole property of Electricfox and has been used with full permission, much encouragement and threat of harm if I didn't! Electricfox says he likes the way I write for Thunderchild… is he mad? And yes, the watcher species are kinda related to the Observants. I'm only bringing this up cuz it's not likely to be mentioned in the story, particularly as Danny hadn't actually met Clockwork and the Observants at the time this story is set. For more info on Thunderchild's background, read Electric fox's "Crossover" fan fiction.

**- Skulker sketches a Purple-Back Gorilla:** It has to be done! You just can't write a Danny / Skulker battle without including a Purple-Back Gorilla related interruption!

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There you go, Chapter 8! Moonbay must now reward herself with a marshmallow!

For now, I bid you farewell!

See ya at chapter 9


	9. Chap9 Curiousity killed the cat

**A/N** - OMG! I'm updating! Dang, when was the last time I did this!

I apologise to all of you who've been waiting so patiently, so without further ado, here's chapter 9!

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**Disclaimer:**

Danny Phantom is copyright of Butch Hartman

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**Dragons Don't Exist… Do They?**

**Chapter 9**

**Curiosity killed the cat…**

**(or at least it would have had the cat not already been dead )**

"Guess I should be congratulating you on being the first to find me!" Thunderchild told Lyric cheerfully "of course, you _do_ realise the only reason you _were _able to find me was because _I _wanted you to!" The ghost / dragon hybrid glared at the Watcher.

"You were the one who released me and my brother weren't you?" Lyric said "and if not you, then certainly one of your kind!"

"All this and not even a 'Thank You'?" Thunderchild said, folding his arms and sighing in a bored manner "I'm disappointed Lyric! Didn't you and your brother _want _to be freed?"

"After several hundred years of reading and re-reading the same stupid hieroglyphs on the same stupid walls, you don't know how relieved we are to be out of there…"

"Oh, I think I do! I'm a Watcher remember!"

"Whatever!" Lyric snapped, disgruntled at Thunderchild's interruption. "The point is, since our release, we have come to wonder why! The Watchers are not supposed to meddle in the affairs of mortal lives so there must be something in this for you!"

"My reasons are my own, Lyric, therefore I'm not required to tell you anything!" Thunderchild replied finally.

"If you won't tell me my role in your little puppet game by choice, then I'll have to force you!" Lyric growled. Then, out of no-where, Ember and Skulker appeared - Skulker now sporting a gemstone on his armour!

"I see you're playing a puppet game all of your own!" Thunderchild stated, then he pointed to Skulker "And _that_ one's new!"

"That's right!" Lyric replied "He was particularly easy to catch too! Wasn't really able to fight back very well, with his suit malfunctioning like that! But, as you can see, he's now got that little problem sorted!" As though listening to a silent order from Lyric, Skulker shot forward aiming to connect his fist with Thunderchild's face. The Watcher didn't move. Suddenly Skulker stopped dead as though he'd just smashed into an invisible wall.

"I thought you were smarter than that!" Thunderchild stated "Surely if you knew enough to work out I released you, then you must know there's no way to force me to do anything I don't want to do!"

Skulker tried again, this time aided by Ember. And once again, Thunderchild stopped both ghosts in their tracks, only this time knocking them both unconscious with a powerful shockwave, then gave the dragon ghost a look that simply _dared_ him to try again.

Lyric, however, seemed to get the point. He got out the Fenton Thermos he'd stolen from Danny before and pointed it at his defeated puppets. They were instantly sucked into the ghost capturing device.

"So you really _are_ as powerful as the ancient texts say!" Lyric said, indifferently as he placed the cap back on the thermos. "In that case, I concede defeat… for now!"

Thunderchild watched the hybrid turn tail and fly off and couldn't help but chuckle at the scene that had just occurred.

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Danny was on his way back up to his room after bidding Adama farewell. He couldn't quite get what the red dragon had said to him out of his head. A dragon thought a half-ghost was worthy enough to stand in for a missing comrade? It had made Danny's day! Not even the sight of Jazz standing at the top of the stairs appearing to be waiting for him could dampen his current high spirits. 

"What is it Jazz?" Danny asked before his sister could get a word in.

"Wha? What makes you think I was going to ask you anything?" Jazz stuttered, obviously caught unawares that her brother had beaten her to the punch.

"'cause you had that 'nosy sister' look again!" Danny stated "You're easier to read than a pre-school book!" Jazz blushed

"Really? I thought I was being pretty discreet" she replied.

"Well? What did you want?" Danny asked again

"Uh… um…" Jazz started, her train of thought now completely derailed. "I wanted to ask you about last Saturday…" Danny groaned inwardly. Jazz continued "It's just that you said you were at the park that day… the very _same_ day that the supposed dragon attack occurred! Are you sure you didn't see anything?"

"I already told you earlier, Jazz! By the time we arrived, there was too much of a crowd to see anything! And it would've been all over by that point anyway!" Danny stated bluntly. Sure, he was lying through his teeth, but it's not like he could let Jazz know what really happened! That would mean admitting he was part ghost, and he'd been darned if he was going to do that!

"Oh, okay, I was just making sure!" Jazz said, flicking a strand of her long red hair back over her shoulder "well, night then, Danny!"

"Night" the half-ghost replied as Jazz turned and went back to her bedroom. She sure was acting strange tonight! Investigating a dragon attack? That wasn't like her at all! Danny stifled a yawn. All the excitement of the evening had finally caught up with him!

* * *

Adama groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He was lying face down on a hard floor. An attempt to sit upright revealed that his hands were bound behind his back and his feet were also tied together. 

With a bit of effort Adama was able to wiggle upright and once his vision came back into focus he was able to see his current location. The lights were off, but the dragon's acute nocturnal vision allowed him to clearly see the area around him. He was in a lab of some kind. The vast amount of expensive-looking computer equipment and odd looking laboratory tools kind of gave that away!

A green glow to Adama's left attracted his attention. It was emanating from what appeared to be a large ghost portal. But it wasn't the Fenton's portal! The Fenton's one had a door covering it, this one didn't!

Without warning, the lights came on full! Adama hissed and closed his eyes tightly. Dragon vision just wasn't designed for such high intensity light.

"Well, well, well! Look who's finally awake!" Adama forced himself to open his eyes at the sound of the unfamiliar, malicious sounding voice. Once his eyes had started to get used to the light, he was able to see the form of a tall man wearing a rather smart and obviously expensive suit. His hair, which was white in colour, was tied back in a ponytail. Adama didn't recognise this guy. "I have to say, I'm surprised to see you alive! I thought you were lying dead in the desert!"

"I'm not quite sure what you're talking about!" Adama retorted "I don't even know who you are!"

"I am Vlad Masters!" The man announced smugly.

_Vlad Masters… Why does that name sound so familiar?_

"But then, of course, you wouldn't recognise me like this would you?" Vlad continued "Maybe _this_ will help!" Before Adama could ask what he meant, two glowing circles appeared around Vlad's middle and he transformed, like Danny did. That could only mean that Vlad was also a Halfa!

"YOU?!" Adama yelled suddenly! He knew this guy now! It was the same ghost that Adama had witnessed in the Sahara!

"Ah, _now_ you know me!" Vlad sneered, showing his vampire-esque fangs.

"Yeah, you're the ghost who was in Egypt when Lyric and Lotus escaped!" Adama growled.

"I wasn't just there!" Vlad retorted "I _released_ them!"

"_How?_" Adama had a very good idea how, actually, but he wanted to hear it from Vlad's point of view

"Now why should I tell you that?"

"Because as far as the Guardians know, that Tomb is impenetrable!"

"_Was_ impenetrable!" Vlad corrected "Because, unless it's suddenly slipped your mind, _I_ released the Ghost Dragons!" Adama was starting to get pretty irritated with Vlad's smugness.

"You didn't do it alone!" Adama stated dryly "Heh, I'm willing to bet you even found out about them by accident!" Vlad hesitated at that and Adama knew he'd hit the nail on the head! After a few seconds, Vlad regained his composure.

"Be that as it may, it still doesn't prove that it wasn't my own brilliant ingenuity which allowed me to pass though the barrier!" he boasted. The Dragon bit back a snide remark. This guy sure thought highly of himself, but Adama thought it would be best not to push his luck with the adult Halfa. After all, irritating as he was, Vlad had the upper hand in this situation! Losing control and making things worse was Shadow's job!

"So, what do you plan to do with me then?" Adama asked finally

"Well, Lyric has expressed an interest in revenge!" Vlad sneered "But mainly it's to keep you out of the way, whilst our little spy does his work! He tells us you've been getting too suspicious!" This remark ignited a spark of anger in Adama, and he growled in spite of himself.

"What did you do to him?" he asked

"Oh dear, did I hit a nerve?" Vlad taunted "It would appear your little friend finally understands the benefits of helping our cause!"

"And just what _is_ this 'cause'?"

"That's for us to know and you to, well… Let's just say, it's for us to know and leave it at that, hmmm?" Vlad's condescending manner sent chills down Adama's spine, and if you happen to be a Fire Dragon, that's very unpleasant!

Vlad smirked at the red haired boy and turned dramatically… just as something long and metallic came flying out of the green swirling portal, hitting Vlad square in the face and totally ruining the drama!

After taking a minute to recover from the stinging pain of the impact, Vlad bent down to pick up the offending object.

It was a thermos… a _Fenton _Thermos!

"Who DARES to throw an invention of Jack Fenton's at me!" the Halfa demanded angrily! He cocked an eyebrow at Adama, who was chuckling as quietly as he could, but not really quietly enough.

"VLAD!" Lyric yelled, flying through the portal about a minute after. He landed expertly on the floor in front of the half-ghost. "Did that thermos thing come through here?!" Lyric sounded kind of peeved about something. Vlad held out the ghost catching device for the ghost-dragon to see.

"Would you mind telling me how this _inanimate _object managed to propel itself at such speed!!"

"I threw it!"

"_Why?_"

"I'm annoyed! Anyway, what are you so mad at?" It's not like it hit you or anything…" Lyric paused, suddenly noticing the thermos shaped mark on Vlad's face. He cracked up. "No way! It DID hit you?! That's made my day!"

"It's not funny!"

"Well, _that_ depends on your perspective!" Lyric stated still laughing. Then he noticed Adama sitting on the floor. "Oh, you're awake are you? It's about time! But I'll deal with you later. Vlad? Where's Lotus, we need to talk!"

* * *

Novena was getting fidgety. Adama had said he was only going to be accompanying Danny home, but now it was day break and the Fire Dragon still hadn't returned. 

The other dragons weren't too worried. After all, they were used to Adama staying out longer than he told everyone he would. Heck, everyone knew where Shadow learned that bad habit from, and _he_ wasn't back yet either!

But still Novena was concerned, especially with the threat of Lyric and Lotus looming right over their heads.

"Where're you going this early?" Shiar asked her as she walked towards the door.

"Out" Novena replied bluntly

"Well that's blatantly obvious!" Shiar scoffed. He cocked his head to one side. "You wouldn't happen to be going to find Adama would you?"

"No-one else seems to want to!" Novena retorted

"That's because there's been no need to worry yet!" Shiar explained "Buuut… if you really wanna go then I guess I can't stop you! Just don't stay out too long!"

"Thanks, Shi!" Novena smiled at the older Dragon, then left the building.

Outside, the sun was just starting to rise, turning the sky a golden hue. Not the best light for Dragons to see in, but it would do.

Novena decided that retracing her steps back to Perona's house was the best place to start.

She reached the house pretty quickly, and shyly walked up to the door. The Albino knocked on the door but received no answer.

"How can they be out this early in the morning?" Novena muttered to herself.

"They're asleep Novi!" came a voice behind her "They don't stay up at all hours like we do!" Novena looked behind her to see Shadow standing there.

"Shadow!" Novena cried "Have you seen Adama?" the half-dragon had a pained look on his face at the mention of the red dragon's name, but then shook his head. Novena looked downcast.

" I wonder where he's gone… I know, Shadow, you'll help me find him right?"

"Uh…"

"C'mon, he's your friend too!" Novena grabbed his arm.

"Novena?" he asked as the Albino started to drag him down the street "Where are we going?"

"To find Adama of course!" Novena replied cheerfully. The two of them spent the next few hours searching all over the place for the fire dragon, with no luck.

"Wait! We never tried Danny's house!" Novena stated "That's where Adama was last going!" Shadow pulled a face.

"Do we _have_ to go there?" he asked reluctantly.

" I know you don't like Danny, but we've tried everywhere else!" Novena explained. Shadow sighed. There was no stopping the little Albino once she'd made up her mind… particularly if it involved Adama.

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By the time they'd reached the Fenton Works, people had already started milling about, getting ready for the busy day ahead.

"Must be later than we thought" Novena concluded.

"Yeah" Shadow replied. Seeing that oddly shaped house made him uneasy "But I doubt Adama's around here." he turned and started to walk off"

"Hey! Where are you going??"

"Home! Adama's not an idiot! He wouldn't be out here in daylight with people walking around, and I don't want to be either!" Novena opened her mouth to make a scathing reply, but her attention was drawn by the sound of a door opening… more specifically, the door to the Fenton Works. Shadow also looked back to see the source of the noise, and glared at the raven-haired half-ghost as he walked out of the door carrying his purple school backpack.

"DANNY!" Novena called, running over to meet him. Danny smiled and waved as he recognised the Albino dragon, but was somewhat taken aback when he saw Shadow standing there. The moment was tense and Danny fully expected the dragon-boy to launch an attack on him at any time! He was surprised, yet relieved, when Shadow turned and stalked off.

"Oh don't worry about him!" Novena stated, noticing Danny's nervous expression "he's not even in the mood to worry about his best friend!"

"Huh?"

"Adama's gone missing!"

"What?!"

"He didn't come home this morning and I can't find him!" Novena explained "have you seen him? I know he was following you home last night! Did he say anything about where he was planning to go?"

"No," Danny replied "as far as I know he was going home!" Novena started to panic.

"What if he's been kidnapped?!" She cried "Or worse, killed?!" Danny put his hands on her shoulders to try to calm the distraught dragon down.

"Novena, I'm sure he'll be fine. If none of the other dragons are worried yet, they must think so too!" he said. The ghost-boy didn't know dragons well enough to really be sure that what he'd just said was true, but if it stopped Novena from getting upset, then it was all good. Novena wiped away a tear.

"You're right!" She sniffled "He was probably just late getting back so he's hidden away until the sun sets!" She looked up at the half-ghost "Thanks" She grinned, then trotted off in the same direction Shadow had gone.

Danny blinked as the Albino skipped off happily. He marvelled at how quickly Novena had gone from being panicky and tearful to being happy. Some of these dragons could be really strange. Particularly Shadow, whom, Danny had just noticed, was following him from the rooftops.

The half-dragon jumped down and walked up next to Danny. The Halfa tensed, continuing to walk, but ready to "Go Ghost" at a moment's notice should the situation require it. Shadow, however, just studied him curiously, as a young child might study an insect.

"What do you want?" Danny asked defensively, starting to fell a bit unnerved by this dangerous boy and possible spy walking right next to him.

"I still can't work it out…" Shadow stated, seemingly talking more to himself than to Danny.

"What?" Danny asked again

"You!" Shadow stated bluntly "You're part human… and part ghost! I mean, you shouldn't even exist!"

"Heh, you can talk…" Danny paused for a minute before gearing up the courage to say the last word "… Liagren!" Shadow glared at Danny

"You're a reckless little brat, aren't you?" Without warning, Shadow walloped Danny hard on the side of the head, sending him sprawling onto the concrete. "I hate stupid unnatural half-breeds like you, who can walk around freely, while I have to pretend to be an ice dragon, just to explain why my eyes are blue instead of amber!"

Danny shook his head to refocus his vision. It had never occurred to him before! All of the dragons he seen so far, including Lyric, had amber coloured eyes… _except _for Shadow and Novena! Novena had an excuse.. She was Albino, but Shadow?

Danny pushed himself up off the ground and dusted himself down. He had expected Shadow to get mad, but he hadn't expected a reaction _that_ hostile!

"I'm going Ghost!" He yelled, transforming into his ghost form.

"That's another thing that irritates me about you!" Shadow growled "Why the heck do you always feel the need to announce your transformation all the time?? It's not necessary and only serves to make you look even more of an idiot!"

"HEY!" Danny retorted "It's MY life and they're MY powers!! If I want to 'announce my transformation' I will!" Shadow growled again and started to charge up an electrical sphere to launch at the half-ghost. Before he could get round to aiming at Danny, he was startled by a dual cry of 'GHOSTS!'

He turned to see where the cries had come from and got a face full of net. Danny recognised the red hair and blue Hazmat suit of his mother. Sure enough, his father wasn't far behind, laden with all manner of ghost hunting devices in quantities to take down a small army!

"Got you Ghost!" Maddie yelled triumphantly. Danny breathed a sigh of relief… until Maddie turned the net launcher on him! Of course, his parents didn't know about his ghost powers, so all they saw when they looked at Danny, was just another ghost. Danny decided, for his own sake, that it was time for him to leave.

"Thanks for the help!" He called out cheekily, before turning intangible and phasing through the ground.

* * *

**A/N **- There you go! All done for this update! I've decided to stop putting the notes at the bottom of the chapters so. I'll try not to leave it so long til the next update - 

Fullmetal Pipsqueak


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